So, uh, yeah. That wasn’t good. The Vegas Golden Knights lost 4-0 against the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 and, from top to bottom, looked subpar against the boys in teal.
Vegas had done fine against San Jose’s depth in Games 1-3 of the series, but they folded against it in Game 4 allowing four different goal scorers for the Sharks — Marcus Sorensen, Joonas Donskoi, Tomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski.
Sorensen’s goal had some— let’s call it illegal activity, in the moments before the puck found twine, but this is a clean effort from the goal scorer himself:
Marcus Sorensen opens the scoring. What an effort to give San Jose the lead. pic.twitter.com/N13c3VgUzh — Ryan Quigley (@RP_Quigs) May 3, 2018
After Donskoi’s goal where Brayden McNabb accidentally screened Fleury, Hertl did this:
It's 3-0 now. Sharks go for yet another wraparound and it pays off. Tomas Hertl with the score. pic.twitter.com/BlPCwozyTs — Ryan Quigley (@RP_Quigs) May 3, 2018
Pavelski eventually scored on the power play, but that was long after the game stopped being competitive.
There were chances for the Golden Knights, of course, but after that game, one with that final scoreline, it’s hard to focus on the positive. So why not lean into the negative?
Analysis
Starting in net for the Knights, Marc-Andre Fleury had his first bad game of the postseason. He made saves on 30-of-34 shots, posting an .882 save percentage in the process. Those aren’t prime Fleury numbers. Especially when considering that, across the ice, Martin Jones went 34-of-34 on shots faced, putting on a Fleury-like performance of his own.
The forwards couldn’t get anything going. The Golden Knights went 0-for-5 on the power play, passes weren’t connecting, they got stuck in the neutral zone too many times and gave the puck away far too often. The only category the Golden Knights bested the Sharks in was hits.
The defensemen were a step behind all night and they allowed the Sharks to get to too many rebounds off of Fleury saves. While Shea Theodore prevented two different 2-on-1 chances, the Knights shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place.
The Sharks were able to generate pressure in front of the net, and that allowed them to score three of their goals. The other was the Donskoi accidental screen. The Knights have to be better at clearing the crease out, and making sure that the Sharks aren’t getting those high-danger chances, of which San Jose had 15.
After the first period, the Knight barely controlled the puck. That’s not how you get back into a game, especially when the team is down two goals. The Knights did not look good at any point in this game. That’s a major factor in the shutout and in getting squashed by the Sharks.
The Golden Knights have to be better than this. They’ve been better than this. For the first time this postseason, this team is finally facing adversity. They had chances to win every other game in this series, but they had no chance in this one.
Vegas has to come home and play strong.
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."
SAN JOSE, Calif. — 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 Golden Knights 4-0 in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
"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 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.
"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.
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.
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.
NOTES: Nabokov made 34 saves in playoff shutouts against Calgary in 2004 and Detroit in 2007. … Vegas had outscored the opposition 7-1 in the first period through its first seven games this post-season. … Sorensen has five goals in 14 playoff games compared to six in 51 regular-season games.
