SAN JOSE -- The recent past has been so good to goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and his Vegas Golden Knights teammates, and the immediate future isn't looking too bad either, considering they are two wins from the Western Conference Final.
It's just that troubling matter of the present after the San Jose Sharks defeated them 4-0 in Game 4 of the second round at SAP Center on Wednesday to even the best-of-7 series 2-2.
"What's fresh in your mind is tonight," Fleury said. "You're never happy when you lose. We had a chance to hurt them tonight with a win tonight, and we didn't."
[RELATED: Complete Golden Knights vs. Sharks series coverage]
Everything had been going so well for Fleury. Perhaps that's why Game 4 was somewhat startling. He made 30 saves but gave up an uncharacteristic goal from long range when Sharks forward Joonas Donskoi scored with six seconds remaining in the first period to make it 2-0.
"Just came with speed and cut across the middle and shoot through the [defenseman's] legs. I just didn't pick it up," Fleury said. "And when I saw it, it was too late."
Said Tomas Hertl, who scored in the second period to give the Sharks a 3-0 lead: "He's not Superman. We can score too, and we scored again four goals, and it was huge for us."
Video: VGK@SJS, Gm4: Hertl knocks in rebound to extend lead
It only seemed as though Fleury had attained superhero status after the first five games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In those games, Fleury gave up three goals and had eye-popping numbers: a 0.54 goals-against average and .982 save percentage.
In the next three, Fleury allowed 11 goals. In eight games in the playoffs, he has a 1.53 GAA and a .951 save percentage.
"We had chances in the last two games to take it up in front, but Fleury, I think has been exceptional especially early in games in order to keep us off the board," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "It's nice that we've stuck with it, and hopefully we see some cracks."
Fleury played well in a 4-3 double-overtime loss in Game 2. In a 4-3 overtime win in Game 3, his glove save against Logan Couture 3:10 into OT is one of the highlights of the playoffs.
That's the Fleury the Golden Knights fully expect to see when the series returns to Las Vegas for Game 5 on Friday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS). He is capable of giving them a chance to win even when they are not playing their very best.
"He's our backbone," defenseman Brayden McNabb said. "He has been all year. Amazing goalie, amazing person. We're very fortunate to have him. Maybe we rely on him too much, but he's our backbone, and we're 100 percent confident in him back there."
Video: VGK@SJS, Gm4: Fleury lays out for great pad save
Fleury said he didn't think the Golden Knights were "that bad" in Game 4, their first road loss of the playoffs.
"Nobody thought it was going to be an easy series either," he said. "We're in good shape 2-2 (in the series), going home and obviously it [stinks] to lose this one."
This, apparently, wasn't the time for self-evaluation. There will be plenty of time for that before Game 5.
"It doesn't matter," Fleury said. "It's a win and loss. It's not a personal game. It's the whole team. (Whether it's) 4-0, 2-1, it doesn't matter.
"Put it behind and get ready for the next one."
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Marcus Sorensen and Joonas Donskoi delivered the fast start San Jose coach Peter DeBoer wanted and Martin Jones did the rest to help the Sharks tie their playoff series with Vegas at two games apiece.
Sorensen and Donskoi scored in the first period and Jones made 34 saves for his sixth career post-season shutout as the Sharks bounced back from an overtime loss to beat the visiting Golden Knights 4-0 in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
San Jose defeats Vegas 4-0, Martin Jones 34 saves for 6th career playoff shutout. 1:52
"We'd been chasing the game the whole series," DeBoer said. "We talked about it, but it's easier said than done. I think we've had chances in the last two games to get out in front, but [Marc-Andre] Fleury has I think been exceptional, especially early in games, in order to keep us off the board. It's nice that we've stuck with it, and hopefully we see some cracks."
Tomas Hertl added his team-leading fifth goal of the playoffs and Joe Pavelski scored a power-play goal in the third to set up a best-of-three for a spot in the Western Conference Final.
Game 5 is Friday night in Las Vegas.
Fleury made 30 saves and Vegas failed to convert on all five power-play chances while losing for the second time in eight games this post-season.
"They were a little more competitive than we were tonight," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "We didn't play a bad game, but we didn't play well enough to win and they did, and they really did. I think we played well enough to win all of the first three, but tonight? No."
Jones sharp from the start
Jones was a big reason for that, starting with a key save early against Reilly Smith. Jones was helped on a delayed penalty when Brent Burns cleared a puck off the goal line and when James Neal hit the post on a power play in the first period.
But the San Jose goalie also delivered some big-time saves, including back-to-back stops against William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault on a Vegas power play in the final minute of the second. Jones then turned aside Smith on a power play in the third.
Jones tied Evgeni Nabokov's team record for most saves in a playoff shutout, and the Sharks have turned things around following a 7-0 loss in the opener.
Most shutouts in the #StanleyCup Playoffs since 2016:
6 – Matt Murray
6 – Martin Jones
5 – Marc-Andre Fleury
3 – Pekka Rinne#NHLStats #VGKvsSJS pic.twitter.com/JygrXLaZPe —@PR_NHL
"I thought we probably managed the puck a little bit better for the whole game," Jones said. "We won battles on the boards, we got pucks out when we needed to and we got pucks in when we needed to. That was big for us tonight."
Hertl helped give Jones a cushion with his goal early in the second. Logan Couture won an offensive zone faceoff against Erik Haula, and Mikkel Boedker took the puck behind the net for a wraparound attempt. Hertl was in front and knocked in the loose puck to make it 3-0.
Pavelski's goal on the rebound of Couture's shot sealed the game midway through the third.
Sharks shuffle lineup
The Sharks made some changes from Game 3, with defenceman Joakim Ryan returning to the lineup for the first time since March 16 in place of Paul Martin, and Donskoi getting back in after missing the previous game with a lower-body injury.
After an early giveaway led to a scoring chance for Vegas, Ryan fared well and stripped William Carrier of the puck to thwart a chance for the Golden Knights.
San Jose then scored twice in the final five minutes of the first period. Sorensen struck first, using a pick from linemate Eric Fehr to get loose from the corner and then skate around two defenceman to beat Fleury with his fourth goal of the playoffs.
.@sorensenmarcus skates through half the Golden Knights roster and puts the @SanJoseSharks up 1-0. pic.twitter.com/LEiIKiPzNU —@NHLGIFs
The Sharks added to the lead with 5.1 seconds to go when Donskoi skated from his own zone and beat Fleury with a wrist shot from the high slot.
"At the start of the game they actually had some better looks than we did. I think they came out hard and better than we did and then Marcus scored and Joonas' goal was big as well," Couture said. "The 2-0 goal was a massive goal heading into the first intermission."
Vegas was never able to recover from that early deficit.
"We got caught a little bit sleeping in the first period and they took advantage," Marchessault said.
