Golden Knights Had Their Chances But Lose, 3-1, To Chicago in Game 4 Sunday; Game 5 Is Tuesday
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
No first round playoff series sweep for the Vegas Golden Knights Sunday. And it’s not like the VGK didn’t have their chances to bury the Chicago Blackhawks.
But Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, was the busiest man on the ice as Chicago fought off elimination in Game 4 and defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-1. The Knights had won eight consecutive one-goal decisions and had controlled the third period in six previous wins in the NHL Western Conference Bubble at the Rogers Place arena in Edmonton.
Crawford was outstanding, stopping 48 of 49 shots on goal. In all, the Knights attempted an astounding 96 shots, with Chicago players blocking 32 of those.
The Knights fell behind when the Chicago Blackhawks opened the scoring in the first five minutes.
The Knights lead the Round 1 series, 3-1, with Game 5 set for Tuesday. It was the Lehner’s first loss in a VGK uniform after winning his first seven games after being acquired from Chicago. It was also the Knights’ first loss since March 6 after the VGK won their three round-robin games to grab the number one seed and defeated Chicago in the first three games in the Best-of-7 Round One Series.
The Blackhawks’ Drake Caggiula, a North Dakota alum, scored first, beating VGK goaltender Robin Lehner in period one.
Lehner then allowed a weak Chicago goal when he tried to block a soft goal line shot off the stick of the Blackhawks’ Matthew Highmore with his head and the puck caromed into his own net.
But a mere 18 seconds later, Shea Theodore blasted in a slapshot through a knot of players in front of the goal to cut the Chicago lead to 2-1.
The Knights fired 20 shots on goal in period one to eight for the Blackhawks.
Vegas dominated Chicago in period two, but the ‘hawks goalie, Corey Crawford, stopped every puck fired off the stick of a Golden Knights player.
The Golden Knights outshot Chicago, 16-7, in the second stanza and led the Blackhawks, 36-15, in shots on goal after two periods. After two periods, Crawford was clearly the best player on the ice.
The Knights made a stunning 66 shot attempts after two periods. And the Knights made 96 shot attempts compared to 45 for the Blackhawks for the game. I asked VGK coach Pete DeBoer about his message for Game 5 after a frustrating loss in Game 4:
It looked as if Crawford was poised to steal a win for the Blackhawks. In July, Crawford tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and was in quarantine in Chicago. The 35-year-old Crawford was the Chicago netminder when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013 and 2015.
Crawford shut out the Knights in period three and the Blackhawks survived to force game 5 in two days. Chicago sealed the win with an open net goal with 10.8 seconds left.
After NBC network broadcast Game 3 and gave VGK TV play-by-play man Dave Goucher the day off Saturday, Goucher was back in action with action commentator Shane Hnidy Sunday.
The Goucher-Hnidy team broadcast the game on screens at T-Mobile Arena, while the rest of the VGK media crew for AT&T Sportsnet are back at City National Arena in Summerlin 12 miles west of the Strip and the VGK’s 18,367-seat arena.
A Chicago player taking on his old mates was forward Ryan Carpenter, who played for the Knights during the franchise’s first two seasons before he signed a three-year, $3 million contract with Chicago as a free agent July 1, 2019.
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