This was the Stanley Cup defining game. The Vegas Golden Knights now sit a single win away from being Stanley Cup champions as they managed to survive a light Panthers fury 3-2 to take a 3-1 series lead.
What a fantastic performance by both teams.
The Vegas Golden Knights are now on the verge of achieving the ultimate dream of all NHL franchises, players, coaches, owners, executives, trainers, etc. as they narrowly beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 in Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. And, despite the Panthers having a shadow of hope of coming back, I think this is just about over.
This was the best game of this series to date as both teams fought through normally debilitating injuries, overcame numerous momentum swings, and never gave up on winning the game under the most tense and difficult of circumstances (aka: trialing by 3 goals and getting pelted with shot after shot when defending a 1-goal lead). It was hockey at its absolutely finest…yet only one of these teams could walk out of Florida victorious.
And that was the Vegas Golden Knights.
Truthfully, I thought the Vegas Golden Knights were going to run away with this game early on as they not only were badly outplaying the Panthers by just being quicker, sharper, and more precise with their offensive rushes, but they also capitalized on such excellence with 3 straight goals.
It started with Chandler Stephenson (2 G, 2 PTS, +1 +/-) taking advantage of a mind numbingly stupid Florida line change when the puck was a mere 2 feet from their own blue line as the former Capitals center simply deked past Sam Bennett (0 PTS, -1 +/-) and scored five hole on Sergei Bobrovsky (28 saves, .903% SV, 3 GAA on 31 shots) to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.
Then, after some great saves by Adin Hill (29 saves, .935% SV, 2 GAA on 31 shots) on Matthew Tkachuk (0 PTS, 0 +/-), who looks like he’s playing with a broken arm given how little weight he’s putting on it, to close out the 1st period, Mark Stone (2 A, 2 PTS, +1 +/-) set up Chandler Stephenson for a high-slot one-timer that beat Bob high glove to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead midway through the 2nd.
And, if you thought it couldn’t get any worse for Florida given the chances they blew, William Karlsson (1 G, 1 PT, +1 +/-) scored on a rebound just three minutes later to give the Knights a comfortable 3-0 lead and rock any confidence and momentum the Panthers had.
The sequences for the Golden Knights last two goals really were insane given how even and balanced the game was up until that point as the Panthers easily could have been up 2-1 if the bounces went another way.
Still, it’s not like the Golden Knights didn’t deserve to be up 3-0 either as even though both sides were giving their all and hitting at a normal rate again (VGK: 32 hits; FLA: 21 hits), the Golden Knights were just more clinical with their chances as they snuck 3 goals past Bob on just 23 1st and 2nd period shots.
Reversely, the Panthers hadn’t managed to knock a dent in Adin Hill’s golden armor in net as he was standing on his head (once again) to ensure the Golden Knights kept their 3-goal lead…until the bounces finally went Flordia’s way. With just 3 minutes left in the 2nd period, Brandon Montour (1 G, 1 A, 2 PTS, +1 +/-) let off a desperate, hopeful, and harmless wrist shot that was designed to just keep the puck in the zone than actually score a goal.
However, the puck somehow ended up bouncing off Brayden McNabb’s (0 PTS, -2 +/-) foot, off Shea Theodore’s (0 PTS, -2 +/-) leg, and then missed Adin Hill’s 6’4” frame completely to dribble into a gaping net. It was easily the strangest and most fortunate goal scored in the postseason to date, and it was the kind of goal that gave the Panthers players and fans the hope needed to mount a heroic comeback.
And that’s exactly what they did for the final 20 minutes of play as they not only outshot the Golden Knights 11-8 in the 3rd period and generated numerous “A+” chances (that Hill kept out), but they also scored another “lucky” goal early on in the 3rd period as Aleksander Barkov (1 G, 1 A, 2 PTS, 0 +/-) somehow managed to squeeze a one-timer through Hill’s pads to bring the Panthers to within one.
Obviously, the next 16 minutes were just frantic Panthers attacks versus an even more frantic Golden Knights defense that saw both sides nearly put the puck in the back of the net a few times, but the game ended up coming down to the final 10 seconds with the Panthers on a powerplay due to Alex Pietrangelo (0 PTS, 0 +/-) shooting the puck over the glass.
Similarly, to how the Panthers knocked off the Hurricanes with just 4 seconds left on the clock and the game tying goal in Game 7 against the Bruins, both Brandon Montour (he scored a one-time point blast vs. Bruins) and Matthew Tkachuk (he scored a wrap-around net-drive vs. Canes) had amazing opportunities to score…yet Adin Hill proved equal to the challenge and denied both players as time expired to give Vegas a 3-1 series lead.
Oh, and Hill also showed what a badass he is as he got into a massive scrum with Tkachuk and Bennett at the horn, while the rest of his teammates attacked the other Panthers players on the ice (and vice versa, of course).
Nevertheless, the Golden Knights survived the frantic Florida comeback and have stolen a win in the Sunshine state to set up a potential series-clinching Game 5 showdown back in Las Vegas. And, I think we’re about to see a new holder of Lord Stanley’s most glorious, historic cup come Tuesday night.
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