A wildly inconsistent effort costs the Golden Knights again in series-evening Game 4 loss to Hurricanes

Brutal. Fresh off an exhilarating game 3 double-overtime victory, the Golden Knights entered Game 4 at home with a chance to go up 3-1 in this Finals series, and take a stranglehold back to Raleigh for Game 5.

Instead, they surrendered a quick pair of goals for the second time this series, played catch-up most of the night, managed to tie it (again), and then blew it in the third (again). It was another night of self-inflicted wounds, which are becoming a concerning theme throughout this series. Equally concerning has been the play of Carter Hart, who, in spite of two wins, became the first goaltender in Stanley Cup Finals history to allow four goals in each of his first four starts. Yikes!

It was another rollercoaster of a game early on, with a slow 1st and strong 2nd

Initially, this game resembled Game 1 to a frightening degree. Just over a minute into the game, Carolina's Logan Stankoven scored to open the game; he was followed by Jackson Blake just two and a half minutes later, putting Vegas down 2-0 just 3:28 into the game. Like Shea Theodore in the first period of Game 1, Mark Stone then scored a few minutes later to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Unlike that game, however, the Golden Knights would face multiple two-goal deficits, as a Jordan Staal power-play strike put Vegas down 3-1 a bit over halfway through the first period. In general, the first period has been rough for the Golden Knights all series; this team absolutely has to start strong in Game 5 if they want any chance of taking home the Cup this year. The penalty kill has also been horrendous and badly needs to be cleaned up, with Carolina going 4-for-9 on the man advantage over the last three games.

Vegas has dominated the second period all series, though, and tonight was no different. After William Karlsson scored early on to cut the deficit to one, it was Brett Howden that broke a tie with Jonathan Marchessault to set the franchise's single-playoff goal record:

After posting just 12 goals in an injury-shortened regular season, Big Game Brett now has 14 in 20 playoff games. Remember that this was the first year of a five-year extension at only $2.5 million a year. One of McCrimmon's finest works, if I do say so myself. Now, if only the likes of Jack Eichel (0G, 2A) and Noah Hanifin (0G, 1A) could show up like that, and we'd be in much better shape.

Turnovers and poor goaltending ultimately sink Vegas

I briefly discussed Carter Hart's struggles in the Game 3 postgame. It's time to have a full conversation now, though. Hart earned a dubious honor on Tuesday night, becoming the first goalie in the history of the Stanley Cup Finals to allow four goals in each of his first four games. The advanced stats back this up; Hart posted a negative goals-saved-above-average tonight, last Saturday, last Thursday, and last Tuesday, with Games 1 and 4 being rough in particular. To put it bluntly, he hasn't been up to par against Carolina, and you have to wonder how short his leash will be in Game 5. It's not like his backup hasn't been here before.

As much as I'm ragging on Hart, here, though, we need to talk about turnovers as well. They've plagued us for the entire series, and tonight was no different. On consecutive turnovers in front of our own net, Hart barely stopped a Seth Jarvis deke before letting an unguarded Jordan Staal backhand it in seconds later:

That's after a Rasmus Andersson turnover behind the net helped to cost Vegas Game 2, among many, many others. Vegas badly needs to clean up their puck possession game, as Carolina is far too fast of a team to not take advantage of those mistakes.

Oh, well. This is far from the first Finals to be tied after four games, and every day is a new day. See you all in Raleigh for Game 5, and Go Knights Go!!

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