Golden Knights regret missed chances early in Game 4 against Capitals

WASHINGTON -- The moment will live forever in the nightmares of forward James Neal and the Vegas Golden Knights if they lose the Stanley Cup Final, stuck on repeat, in slow motion, sickening.
The Golden Knights had come out strong against the Washington Capitals in Game 4 at Capital One Arena on Monday. They had hit a goal post and the side of the net early in the first period. Now here they were on the power play.

Forward Tomas Tatar carried the puck through the left circle and passed to the right circle for center Erik Haula. Down low to the left, Neal thought Haula was going to shoot. So did goaltender Braden Holtby, who slid across.
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Haula passed back door to Neal instead. Neal collected the puck and waited a split-second, head up, because defenseman Matt Niskanen was falling and sliding out of the way. The net was as wide open as you'll ever see.
Had Neal scored at 4:29, Vegas would have led 1-0, and who knows? Maybe this would have been a different game. Maybe this would be a different series. The Golden Knights are 11-2 when scoring first in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But a player who has scored more than 20 goals in each of his 10 NHL seasons hit the right post, and the Golden Knights lost 6-2 and trail 3-1 in the best-of-7 series entering Game 5 at Las Vegas on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"Yeah, it's tough," Neal said with a bloody lower lip. "It's tough. It's one you'd like to have back. But no feeling sorry for yourself. Figure it out, and get the next one."
The Golden Knights lost three games in the first three rounds of the playoffs. Now they have lost three games in a row for the first time since Feb. 26-March 2 -- three games in a row in regulation for the first time since Nov. 28-Dec. 1 -- and face elimination for the first time.
They made history this season by shattering records for first-year teams. Well, now they will have to make history again, or their magical run will end in disappointment. Teams that have trailed 3-1 in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final have a series record of 1-32 and have lost 31 straight series. The lone winners were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who came back after losing the first three games against the Detroit Red Wings.
After Neal hit the post, the Capitals took a 4-0 lead by 15:23 of the second period. Neal had an equipment manager rub the blade of his stick and kiss it twice for good luck, and scored 5:43 into the third. Forward Reilly Smith followed at 12:26. But it was too little, too late, and the Capitals tacked on two more goals. Maybe Neal should try voodoo between games.

Vegas went 0-for-4 on the power play; Washington 3-for-5 (60 percent).
"Unacceptable," Golden Knights penalty-killer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. "We the killers have to be better. Simple as that."
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury entered the Final as the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs with a 1.68 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and four shutouts. He has allowed 16 goals in four games in the Final, giving him a 4.08 GAA and .845 save percentage in the series, not that it has been his fault alone. Far from it.
Things have turned so dramatically that the Golden Knights described a 6-2 loss as their best game of the series. Coach Gerard Gallant, who inserted Tatar for forward David Perron, the Golden Knights' regular-season leader in assists with 50, called it a big step forward.
"It was a game that was more open than we wanted, but I liked the jump that we had and I liked the way we played tonight," Bellemare said. "The ending was obviously not the way we wanted. You can't be happy after a game like this. But at least we played our game."

At least they skated. At least they got in on the forecheck. At least they were harder on the puck. At least they created chances. Although some of it was a product of playing from behind, they outshot the Capitals 30-23. Defensemen Colin Miller and Shea Theodore hit goal posts too.
"The score doesn't tell the whole story," Neal said. "I thought there were a lot of parts of our game that were good tonight. I thought that was our best game. It's frustrating because we had chances to score."
The Golden Knights are running out of chances, though.
"At the end of the day," Neal said, "you've got to bury them."