Golden Knights need to pull a San Jose and raise level of play
SAN JOSE, Calif. — It took eight Stanley Cup playoff games, which is an indication of how well the Golden Knights had performed during a maiden postseason voyage, but the time that eventually finds all sides has arrived.
Time not to panic, but certainly to re-evaluate some things.
Adversity is at the front door of Vegas, and it’s knocking with some purpose.
The Knights were outplayed Wednesday night like no other time in these playoffs, falling to San Jose 4-0 before an announced sellout of 17,562 at the SAP Center, where the Sharks evened this best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal at two games apiece.
It’s a best-of-three now, and while Vegas knows it would own home ice in two of the games, it can’t have a repeat of Wednesday and expect to survive another round.
It wasn’t so much the Knights were incredibly poor as it was San Jose raised its level of play significantly and Vegas didn’t match it.
“We didn’t play well enough to win and they did,” said Knights coach Gerard Gallant. “I don’t think it was a 4-0 game, but they came out and played very hard.”
The storm Vegas expected from a desperate Sharks team trailing in the series was more a consistent shower that lasted three periods and never let up.
San Jose was faster, quicker, better in all phases.
It outworked Vegas from start to finish, outskated the Knights, rode the play of the other goalie in this series.
Marc-Andre Fleury has deservedly received a majority of the headlines that brought Vegas to this point, but the Sharks also have a goaltender in Martin Jones capable of stringing together enough solid performances to win a series.
Jones stopped all 34 shots and yet didn’t really need to be great to win. He was good, really good, really aggressive, but San Jose controlled the neutral zone again so that Jones didn’t at any point need to be amazing to determine an outcome.
“It’s a good series,” said Fleury, who allowed the four goals on 34 shots. “There are no easy nights, obviously. Nobody thought it was going to be an easy series. We’re in good shape. We’re 2-2 and going home. Obviously it sucks to lose this one, but we’ll put it behind us quickly and move on the next one.”
Sbisa for Merrill?
That will come Friday in Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena, and you would think Gallant will — should — consider lineup changes, specifically moving a now healthy defenseman Luca Sbisa back in for a struggling Jon Merrill, who played well in a first-round sweep of the Kings but who has taken a penalty in each game against the Sharks.
Sbisa has been out since Feb. 27 with an injured hand, but the impending unrestricted free agent has been deemed ready to go. He should be given the opportunity.
None of the Vegas lines offered much Wednesday, and yet the switch of Tomas Tatar for Ryan Carpenter alongside Cody Eakin and David Perron following a Game 2 loss hasn’t yielded much of anything.
Perhaps a move back to Carpenter ignites a spark.
Will we see Ryan Reaves at all these playoffs?
Bottom line: Vegas just needs to play better. It forced things Wednesday, didn’t get pucks deep, chased far too much and for the second straight game, got completely away from its forecheck.
It was on the wrong end of a no-call in the first period, when San Jose ran a pick play that should have been whistled for interference and instead resulted in the game’s first goal, but a few hours later, Vegas had no room to question officiating.
When it comes to the Knights and positives from this one, the list reads: Eakin was pretty good.
“They came out hard and skated well against us right off the bat,” said Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault. “Their defense did a good job to box us out and its was hard to get to their net. Give them credit. They’re strong, smart players. You’re not going to win every game on the road, but we won one here and now go back home and get the momentum from our crowd.
“I like our chances.”
Eight playoff games later, the Golden Knights have been presented a challenge all teams eventually face: Adversity is knocking, and it’s on them to pull a San Jose and raise the level.
Maybe that means a few lineup changes. Maybe it doesn’t.
But a repeat of Wednesday will deliver a similar result — no matter who has home ice.
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Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.
