Capitals Dominate Golden Knights Puts Vegas On Brink Of Elimination In Game 4 - June 4th 2018
Is the Vegas Golden Knights unbelievable run over? will the Washington Capitals win their first ever Stanley Cup all these questions may be answered by the time game 4 ended Monday night as the Washington Capitals push the Vegas Golden Knights to the brink of elimination by taking a 3-1 series lead. Washington was looking to take a very commanding lead on Monday night while Vegas was looking to bring the series back to Vegas tied at 2 but that was not the case on Monday night. This has been the most unpredictable playoffs if not season in NHL history and i can easily say from a kid who has grown up around the game that this will go down as one of the most exciting and unpredictable seasons in the history of the NHL.
If a Fall Out Boy concert was not enough fun then remember the meaning of this game a game to decide if this series turns into a best of 3 or a very scary 3-1 Washington lead. Vegas for the very first time not only this playoffs but also in franchise history they go back to Vegas Thursday 60 minutes from possibly being eliminated from the playoffs which would end the greatest expansion team run in pro sports history and personally if this series ends up going to 7 then in my opinion this season would be by far the best ever in my lifetime. That may be a bit of an overstatement to some but for those who haven't been around too see the 1980-83 New York Islanders Dynasty or the Edmonton Oilers of the 80s as they manged to win 5 cups in 10 years during that decade but i was around to witness the very first back to back Stanley Cup champions of the salary cap era the Pittsburgh Penguins.
But enough said Marc Andre Fleury got the start Monday night trying to help get his Golden Knights back into the series as he wants to get his game back and fast to try and tie this series at 2. Braden Holtby easily a potential Vezena winner and a potential Conn Smyth trophy winner got the start to try and push his team to a 3-1 series lead.
We start in the 1st period with lots of high action lots of puck moving and missed chances Alex Ovechkin throws the puck and hits off the post in the first minute of the period showing how the pace of the game will be just less then a minute later Vegas winger Alex Tuch throws the puck off the corner of the boards right to Erik Haula in the slot for a tip but rings off the post. Later on in the period Vegas gets the games first power play lots of puck movement and great chances but non like James Neal as he hits the far post on an open net an easily wasted chance for the Golden Knights which would prove very costly as the Capitals get their first power play at 9:22 off a trip by Colin Miller. The Golden Knights would pay as the T.J Oshie scores his 8th of the playoffs at 9:54 making it a 1-0 Washington lead. Tom Wilson scoring his 5th of the playoffs and Devante Smith-Pelly scoring his 6th all before the end of the period lots of great back and forth action throughout the period but it was clearly Washington's game to lose as the dominated the 1st period.
2nd period brought on more action but saw only one goal scored and that was for the team who had everything going right for them through the whole game the Capitals John Carlson scores his 5th of the playoffs at 15:23 on the power play. Lots of more action and penalties handed out but remand a steady well played game by both teams with a lot on Gerard Gallant's mind he knew he had to rally his troops and come out to compete in the 3rd.
The 3rd period saw what looked to be life in the Golden Knights as James Neal makes up for his empty net miss in the 1st with a goal of his own as he scores his 6th of the playoffs at 5:43 to make it 4-1 Capitals. More pressure and hard offense results in another Vegas goal by Reilly Smith scoring his 4th of the playoffs at 12:26 but it was too late for the Golden Knights as Washington's Micheal Kempny scores his 2nd of the playoffs at 13:39 putting this game virtually out of reach with little time remaining. The Golden Knights ran into penalty trouble late at the went down 2 men and tried to kill a 5-3 but Brett Connolly put the puck past Fleury to make it 6-2 Capitals and that is how the game stayed for the rest of the game.
Washington goes into Vegas knowing they can close out the series and end their 43 year drought with a huge performance by Braden Holtby and a 4 assist game by Evgeny Kuznetsov Washington can feel very confident in knowing that they hold the power in this series which can be closed out Thursday at 8 est in Vegas The Golden Knights need to regroup fast if they want to continue this amazing run that they have.
