Stephenson among top performers for Golden Knights in Game 4 of Cup Final

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Who played well in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final? Sometimes it's easy to tell, sometimes it isn't. NHL.com graded the players in the 3-2 victory by the Vegas Golden Knights against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Saturday. Here are the players and trends that stood out the most.

Honor Roll

Chandler Stephenson (Vegas Golden Knights): The center scored twice to give him 10 goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, making him the third Vegas player to score at least that many this postseason (Jonathan Marchessault, 13; William Karlsson, 11). It was the 12th multigoal game by a Golden Knights player this postseason.

William Karlsson (Vegas Golden Knights): Karlsson scored the game-winning goal in the second period, but it was his defensive play that truly shined. He was a menace on the forecheck and got his stick into the passing lanes to prevent Florida from sustaining offensive pressure.

Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights):The forward had two assists, including one with a centering pass to set up Stephenson's second goal on a one-timer. He has 13 assists in the playoffs and has been a factor on both ends of the ice.

Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers): The center had a goal and an assist for his first points of the series. He was also excellent in the face-off circle, going 15-for-24 (63 percent), and had a game-high six shots on goal.

Brandon Montour (Florida Panthers): The defenseman scored for the second straight game, finishing with a goal and an assist, and was plus-1.

RELATED: [Video: VGK@FLA, Gm4: Stephenson goes five-hole on breakaway]

Stock Watch

Nicolas Hague and Zach Whitecloud (Up): The defensemen had something to prove after each was minus-3 in Game 3. Hague had two assists Saturday, and Whitecloud had one, with each finishing plus-3.

Anton Lundell (Up): Lundell was plus-2 with an assist. The forward has been one of Florida's steadier players in this series.

Anthony Duclair (Down): He struggled on the forecheck and was minus-2. The forward had one shot on goal in 13:31 of ice time.

Florida offense (Down): The Panthers couldn't get much going in the offensive zone, though much of it had to do with the Golden Knights forecheck.

Vegas adjustments (Up): The Golden Knights have been known to make the right adjustments at the right time. This time, they seemed to learn from the previous game and instead of giving up a Grade A chance at 6-on-5 late in the third period, they defended the extra attacker much more efficiently to preserve the victory.

What we learned

Eyes on Tkachuk

Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk sat out for 10:41 in the third period with an undisclosed injury before returning to the ice for the final push. Neither he nor coach Paul Maurice commented on the severity of the injury afterward. Tkachuk leads Florida with 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 20 playoff games, so his status will be one of the bigger questions entering Game 5 of the best-of-7 series at Vegas on Tuesday.

Familiar story

It's do-or-die for the Panthers, but they've been in this position before, trailing 3-1 in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Boston Bruins this season before winning three straight to advance. They'll need to rely on that experience and tighten things on defense to find a way back into the series.