Vegas Golden Knights Fall In Game Three, Trail 2-1 In Stanley Cup Final

Turnovers and lack of offense doom Vegas Golden Knights in game three of Stanley Cup Final.

With the Stanley Cup Final all tied up at one, both teams have the opportunity to take control of this series. The Washington Capitals have all the momentum going into game three, but the Vegas Golden Knights weren’t going to lay down. However, if the Golden Knights want to achieve their end goal, they’re going to need to win a road game.

Golden Knights Head Coach Gerard Gallant is rolling with the same lineup as he did in game’s one and two. Still no sign of Malcolm Subban at this point for Vegas. Maxime Lagace is once again the backup to Marc-Andre Fleury.

As for the Capitals, there’s been speculation all week long on the status of Evgeny Kuznetsov due to an injury suffered in game two from the hit by Brayden McNabb. After practicing the past two days, he put that thought to rest. Kuznetsov took part in warmups and is back in the lineup.  Naturally, Braden Holtby took the starters cage for Washington.

The first period began with a Capitals push early on, and it started with an odd-man rush. Kuznetsov saucered the pass to Alex Ovechkin for a wide open shot, but Fleury made an incredible stop to keep the Caps off the board. The Golden Knights also got a couple of scoring chances of their own.

Reilly Smith wristed one towards the net from the right faceoff dot and hit the post with the shot. Likewise, Jonathan Marchessault rung iron coming across the slot. But the most significant chance belonged to Washington.

Devante Smith-Pelly interfered with Fleury hard trying to make the save as the puck went by him. The referee immediately washed out the goal and quieted the Capitals crowd down.

The first period came to a close with both teams getting good early looks in the offensive zone. Washington narrowly outshot Vegas 7-5 in the opening frame. Both Holtby and Fleury looked calm and relaxed as ever early in this one.

The middle frame started off on the wrong foot for Vegas. The Golden Knights get caught running around in their own zone and eventually Ovechkin pots in an early second-period tally to give Washington a 1-0 lead. Can’t blame Fleury on this one as he made a sequence of saves before the goal, the Vegas defense gave him absolutely no help.

The misfortunes continued for the Golden Knights as Shea Theodore pinched in the offensive zone when his stick broke which created another odd-man rush. Kuznetsov broke down the wing and beat Fleury to the blocker side. His 12th of the postseason gave the Capitals a 2-0.

The horrendous second period continued when Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin had glittering scoring chances, but both missed the net entirely. One of the worst periods of play all postseason long from the Golden Knights.

The shots favored Washington in the second 14-8 and 21-13 overall. That’s right, only 13 shots. Clearly not enough shots getting to the net for the Golden Knights. Vegas would need to pull a miracle off to beat the Capitals on this night.

The Golden Knights got off to an extremely fortunate start to the third period. Holtby misplays the puck and turns it over to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. Then, Tomas Nosek makes no mistake and pounds it in the back of the net. That’s the fourth goal the Golden Knights fourth line has scored in the Stanley Cup Final.

Anytime the fourth line is the best line in a game or a series, that’s not a good sign at all. The middle two lines haven’t generated much of any offense. It’s going to be a short series if the Golden Knights second and third lines don’t pick it up.

Things turned from upbeat and positive to pessimistic and negative. Theodore goes and retrieves a puck in the defensive zone and immediately turns a puck over to Jay Beagle. Beagle finds Smith-Pelly walks in all alone on Fleury and makes no mistake for his fifth of the playoffs.

The Golden Knights couldn’t muster up any more offense as they fell in game three 3-1. This forces Vegas to win game four in Washington. If they’re defeated once again on Monday night, the Golden Knights will face elimination for the first time this postseason in game five at home.

Vegas Hockey Knight’s Three Stars

3rd Star) Braden Holtby- 21 saves on 22 shots in game three victory.

2nd Star) Jay Beagle- Two assists, +2 rating, two hits in 13:35 TOI.

1st Star) Evgeny Kuznetsov- Game-winning goal, one assist, +2 rating, four shots on goal in 18:52 TOI.

Next: Vegas Golden Knights Need More Production From David Perron

All in all, the Vegas Golden Knights know what they’re up against in game four. If they want to take this series tied going back to Vegas in game five, they need their best effort against Washington Monday night. Catch puck drop at 5 PM PT on NBC.