Golden Knights can’t solve Corey Crawford, Blackhawks

The outstanding play of the Golden Knights’ goaltenders was one of the reasons they had a chance to sweep the Chicago Blackhawks out of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

But it was the Blackhawks who had the edge in that department Sunday.

Goalie Robin Lehner was at fault on Chicago’s second goal and outdueled by counterpart Corey Crawford in the Knights’ 3-1 loss at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Knights lead the best-of-seven series 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The loss was their first of the postseason after six wins.

“That’s the irony of playoff hockey, right? You play your best game and you lose, and you win other games that you’re not playing at that level,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. There’s very few sweeps in this league ever, and they’re a good team over there. You have to tip your hat to the goalie. He was their best player tonight.”

The Knights had a chance to become the first team to reach the Western Conference semifinals, but lost for the first time since March 6 at Winnipeg despite dominating the shot chart.

Crawford, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Chicago, finished with 48 saves and improved to 14-5 in his career with the Blackhawks facing elimination.

He made 19 saves in the first period and had a key stop midway through the third when William Karlsson’ shot went off his mask. Crawford then came up with a windmill glove save to deny Zach Whitecloud with 8:26 left.

“First period, first 10 minutes of the game, I thought that we just were moving, but we weren’t really getting anywhere,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “It just comes down to executing and burying your chances. That’s what it really comes down to in the playoffs.”

Lehner replaced Marc-Andre Fleury in net for the second game of the back to back but was unable to match the performance by Crawford, his former teammate with the Blackhawks. He lost for the first time with the Knights in eight appearances.

Lehner stopped 22 of 24 shots and accepted responsibility for Chicago’s second goal with 6:20 remaining in the first period.

With the Knights trailing 1-0 after Drake Caggiula scored at 4:08 of the first, Chicago’s Matthew Highmore carried the puck through the neutral zone and chipped it into the corner.

The fourth-line winger won the race to the loose puck, then fired a shot from below the goal line that caught Lehner off his post.

Lehner appeared to try to head away the shot like a soccer player, but it deflected off the back of his neck for Highmore’s third goal of the playoffs at 13:40.

“It’s a game of mistakes. I made a mistake,” Lehner said. “I have to have that, but in the end of the day, you just let it go and focus on the next save and just try to give your team a chance to win. The team played a hell of a game, and (Crawford) played really well.”

The Knights finished with a lopsided 96-45 advantage in shots attempts and generated 41 scoring chances at all strengths, including 14 of the high-danger variety, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

Every player except Ryan Reaves was credited with at least one shot on goal, led by Alex Tuch with six.

But the Knights also missed the net with nearly as much frequency, as Chicago finished with 32 blocked shots.

“When a goalie is in the zone like that, like Crawford was tonight, you have to get in his eyes and cross his field of vision, and you have to stop at the net because there were rebounds, pucks there,” DeBoer said. “We were a few feet away from a lot of them and a few inches away from being real good screens and getting in his eyes.”

The Knights dominated the first period and tied a postseason franchise record with 20 shots on goal, but were forced to play from behind for the first time in the series.

Shea Theodore ripped a one-timer from the right point to cut the Blackhawks’ lead in half 18 seconds after Highmore scored. It was his team-leading fourth goal of the postseason, tops in the league among defensemen.

Alex DeBrincat notched his first goal of the postseason when he scored with an empty net for Chicago.

”Credit to the guys, I think it was our best game of the series,” Lehner said. “We just (weren’t) rewarded today. We just got to go to the next game and we’ll be fine.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.