Late goal sinks Jets as Vegas prevails in Game 4

LAS VEGAS, Nevada - It was another strong performance from the Winnipeg Jets in Game Four against the Golden Knights.
Shots on goal favoured Winnipeg 38-29, shot attempts at even strength were 64-17 - also in the Jets favour, and high-danger chances were 17-12 Jets.
The only place where the Jets didn't finish in front of the Golden Knights was on the scoreboard, where it read 3-2 Vegas.

That one play came with 6:58 left in the third, with the score tied at two.
A pass came back to Dustin Byfuglien at the point, and when the Jets defenceman didn't get all of it, Reilly Smith was there to take it the other way.
With Byfuglien and Josh Morrissey chasing him down, Smith's wrist shot went bar down on the stick side of Connor Hellebuyck, giving Vegas a lead they wouldn't lose.
"It was a heartbreaker," Hellebuyck said. "But we have to move on. We now have everything on the line."
Patrik Laine and Tyler Myers scored for the Jets in the loss, while Hellebuyck made 26 saves.
"It's very frustrating," said Hellebuyck of the loss. "But it's nothing we can't handle. We're prepared for this."

Much of the Jets preparation coming into Game Four was on a good start, but for the third straight game in the series, it would be the Golden Knights getting on the board first.
A Myers interference penalty put the Vegas on the power play early in the first, and while Hellebuyck was up to the task the first time Jonathan Marchessault went cross-ice to William Karlsson, he wasn't able to get to the second one just seconds after a defensive zone face-off.
Vegas had the game's opening goal for the third straight game.

While the first Jets power play of the night only produced chances, the second one - on a Tomas Nosek tripping call - found twine.
Patrik Laine hammered home a one-timer off a pass from Dustin Byfuglien from the centre left wing circle, and the game was tied at one.
But just like in Game Three, the tie wouldn't last.
Nosek, fresh out of the box, banged home a loose puck in the crease just 43 seconds after Laine's goal, putting Vegas back in front.

The Jets came out flying in the third period, and after sustained pressure from the Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, and Kyle Connor line - and then even more from Matheiu Perreault, Bryan Little, and Jack Roslovic - they'd find the equalizer.
Myers' shot from the right face-off dot (the result of a pass from Roslovic) beat Marc-Andre Fleury between the legs and buried deep in the net. It took a quick review, but the goal stood, and the Jets were back on even terms.
"(At) 2-2, 10 minutes left, (it) just didn't go for us the last half of the third," said Myers. "We take the good from it, come back, Game Five come out ready to go, and focus on winning one game."
Winnipeg continued to control play from there, but the opportunistic Golden Knights took advantage of the break on the Byfuglien one-timer, with that goal from Smith - his second of the postseason - holding up as the game winner.

Fleury finished the night with 35 saves on 37 shots, many of them, Grade A chances.
"We had some looks where their goalie made some extraordinary saves," said Wheeler. "He's a good player. Sometimes you have to take your hat off to a good player for stealing the game."
Trailing 3-1 in the series, the Jets head back to Bell MTS Place facing the task of winning three in a row.
But that's not how Maurice is looking at it. The first task is to win the first game.
"I know we can win a game," said Maurice. "We've gone into pretty heavy environments and won a game that we've needed to win. It's just one game."