Golden Knights announce goalie for Sunday’s Game 4
Robin Lehner will start at goaltender for the Golden Knights as they try to sweep the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Back to the PANDA!!! pic.twitter.com/Au1YqvwaBo
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) August 16, 2020
Lehner will make his fifth appearance this postseason after sitting out the Knights’ 2-1 win in Game 3 on Saturday. Marc-Andre Fleury started the first game of the back to back and made 26 saves.
“He had an incredible game,” center William Karlsson said of Fleury. “He almost stole this game for us. Huge saves in the first and also in the third, two periods that I thought Chicago was better than us. He came in and was really, really solid and made some huge saves. It was good for him or for us, just to see us have two great goalies is a strength within our team.”
Lehner has been no slouch in the playoffs, either. He’s 4-0 with a 2.39 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. He started the first two games against the Blackhawks, his former team, and stopped 41 of 45 shots.
DeBoer said Saturday he always planned to play both goaltenders during the back to back in this series. Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour has also done that with goalies Petr Mrazek and James Reimer.
Also, centers Paul Stastny and Tomas Nosek were scratched after being ruled “unfit to play” Saturday. Both have impacted the series in their time on the ice. Nosek scored a goal in Game 2 before exiting with an apparent injury. Stastny has a goal and assisted on right wing Reilly Smith’s overtime winner Game 2.
The Knights have outscored the Blackhawks 6-0 at five-on-five when Stastny has been on the ice.
The two absences mean Patrick Brown will play for the second straight game after being called up from the taxi squad. Brown scored the game-winning goal Saturday.
“He’s been practicing with the taxi squad and showing up every day, keeping himself ready and to be able to jump into a Stanley Cup playoff game like this,” DeBoer said. “(To) be as effective as he was all night for us, that’s just a testament to how hard he works and his character.”
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
