A normally-strong aspect of Vegas' game falters in game 4 loss to Anaheim

Well, there goes that momentum from an explosive game 3. Fresh off a shellacking of the Ducks in said game, Vegas looked ripe to capitalize and go home up 3-1, with a chance to finish off the Ducks in five. That didn't happen.

Instead, the Golden Knights' absurdly-strong penalty kill faltered at a bad time, having their worst game of the playoffs and spotting the Ducks not one but two goals. Combine that with inconsistent offense, a missing Mark Stone, and an off game from Carter Hart, and it was a recipe for disaster on Mothers' Day. Let's take a look at what the Golden Knights did poorly as they head back to the Fortress.

The penalty kill has a brutal game, compared to the norm

Coming into tonight's game, Vegas' PK unit hadn't allowed a single goal to Anaheim this series, with the Ducks 0-for-11 on the man advantage. That followed up an effort against Utah in which Vegas allowed just one power-play goal in 16 opportunities. To top all that off, Vegas' penalty kill had actually outscored their opponents coming into this game, with the boys in gold registering three shorthanded goals over that stretch.

No longer, though. The PK streak came to an end on Anaheim's first chance of the game. With Dylan Coghlan in the box midway through the first period, it was rookie Beckett Sennecke who sniped it off the post and past Carter Hart to put the Ducks up 1-0. Later in the game, after a Cole Smith slashing call, Alex Killorn bounced the puck off Rasmus Andersson in front of the net for a goofy one:

VGK's penalty kill finished the night 2 for 4, an uncharacteristically rough one for a unit that again, had been bulletproof going into this game. I suppose it was inevitable in a sense, given Anaheim's own ridiculous 50% PP against Edmonton, but still. This unit, and the entire team for that matter, needs Mark Stone back bad; hopefully he's not out for the entire series. The optimist in me says he was held out tonight only because it was a comparatively low-stakes game, rather than one that would put us on the brink.

Carter Hart also had his worst game of the series, posting an .826 save percentage on just 23 shots and registering -1.39 goals saved above expected. Not his worst game of the playoffs, but perhaps his worst-timed thus far. We can only hope it's a minor blip, akin to his rough stretch against Utah in games 3 through 5.

A brighter note: Tomas Hertl gets the monkey off his back

Vegas attempted to press the offensive towards the end, down two goals. While they couldn't send it to overtime, they did get one, as with roughly a minute left, this happened:

Your eyes are not deceiving you. For the first time in 30 games, Tomas Hertl got a goal, finally breaking his curse and doing it in a clutch moment to boot. We can only hope this unlocks the rest of his game going forward in this series.

Up next, it's back to Vegas on Tuesday. Go Knights go!

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