Minus Stone, Knights come up short in Game 4

ANAHEIM, Calif. — On a night where their captain was missing, the Vegas Golden Knights probably needed their goaltender to try and steal a game for them in the playoffs.

But Carter Hart was unable to do that. In fact, he looked very mortal in the Vegas net, surrendering four goals on Sunday, at least three of which he probably wanted to have back as the Knights dropped Game 4 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series to the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3.

The series returns to T-Mobile Arena Tuesday for Game 5 all even at 2-2, making it a best-of-three affair with two of those three in Las Vegas. There will be a Game 6 and it’ll be Thursday at the Honda Center.

“I think the biggest part of the game was not being able to get out of the second period 2-2,” Knights coach Tortorella said. “It gave them some life and then they scored their fourth goal and that was the turning point.”

The Knights revealed the bad news earlier in the day when Tortorella said Mark Stone would not play in Game 4 after he suffered an apparent lower body injury in the first period of Game 3 on Friday. He was replaced in the lineup by veteran winger Brandon Said, who last played back on April 11 against Colorado.

“Stoney’s a big part of our team,” Tortorella said. “We miss him as far as his presence and what he does.”

With Stone in the lineup, Vegas is 31-17-12 this season. When he’s out, the Knights are 8-10-5. There’s no question he was missed on the ice Sunday, both on 5-on-5 situations as well as special teams. Whether he’ll be back Tuesday, or the remainder of the series for that matter, is anyone’s guess. Tortorella has said repeatedly he will not talk about injuries so the only way anyone will know of Stone’s availability will be if you see him on the ice.

“It’s always tough losing your captain,” forward Colton Sissons said of the team not having Stone on the ice. “We’re all going to have to step up. That’s what good teams do. But we’ve got a lot of good leaders.”

Saad found himself on the third line with Tomas Hertl and Keegan Kolesar, two players that have struggled mightily during the postseason. Pavel Dorofeyev took Stone’s spot on the top line with Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev.

“I’ve tried to stay ready, physically and mentally,” Saad said after the morning skate Sunday where Tortorella announced the lineup change. “It’s never easy. It’s something I haven’t been used to. But the coaches have done a good job of encouraging me, helping me stay ready in case my number got called.

Saad didn’t get a lot of ice time in Game 4. He hit the crossbar on his one shot attempt and made a nice backcheck play in the second period that prevented a close-in shot attempt by the Ducks. His impact was negligible as he had only 10 shifts and 7:20 TOI, the least of Vegas’ skaters.

With Stone out, it also impacted Vegas’ special teams as Stone is a key cog on the power play as well as being an effective penalty kiiller. It meant Hertl would get more time on the power play and hopefully finally find the back of the net. He had last scored a goal more than two months ago, March 4 vs. Detroit.

But Hertl’s long drought ended when he scored with 1:04 remaining to pull the Knights within one. He looked toward the rafters after scoring, no doubt relieved that he finally scored.

“Hopefully it releases him a little bit,” Tortorella said. “He’s been close for quite a while and hopefully it’ll help him moving forward.”

The Ducks, who played with renewed energy and physicality, finally figured things out on their power play, cashing in twice — in the first period from Beckett Sennecke and in the second from Alex Killorn. They were 0-for-11 with the man advantage the first three games of the series.

Vegas managed a power play goal of its own, Dorofeyev providing it in the first period to tie it 1-1. Brett Howden’s seventh of the playoffs tied it again 2-2 in the second,. But that was as close as the Knights would get as the Ducks were the more energetic and determined team. Coach Joel Quenneville talked about preparing to go to war after his team dropped Game 3 Friday and Anaheim looked like a team that was ready to do battle.

The Knights? Pockets of good play and even domination at times. But certainly not for long enough of a duration to control the game and ultimately prevail. Hart, who has been very good for the most part in this series and has raised his game from the opening round against Utah, had an off-night. He faced 23 shots but four got by him. He'll look to bounce back on Tuesday.

Twenty-one shots on Lukas Dostal aren’t enough. Visits to the penalty box continue to happen too often (four more penalties taken in Game 4).

“You want to stay out of the box,” Tortorella said. “I think when we took the penalties it stopped the momentum we had and then they scored on a couple. We were killing them off and then they scored a couple. It was a big part of the game.”

The Ducks played desperate hockey and were rewarded for it. McNabb said it’s now up to the Knights to raise their game.

“They played desperate and I thought we played a decent game,” McNabb said. “We had some looks and we didn’t cash in. So move on."

Tortorella is confident his team will respond come Tuesday.

“I have zero worry about this team,” Tortorella said. “I have total trust.”