Golden Knights aware of what's at stake in Game 4 of Cup Final

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights are in a good position after three topsy-turvy Stanley Cup Final games. Now, the goal is to be in a great position.

The Golden Knights will try to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Teams that take a 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final are 38-1 (.974), including 10-1 (.909) when starting on the road. The Golden Knights won the Pacific Division but finished with fewer points (95) than the Hurricanes (113), who won the Metropolitan.

The only team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit in the Final is the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who actually overcame a 3-0 deficit.

“If you have an opportunity to win a hockey game you have to take advantage of it,” Vegas forward Nic Dowd said. “The (Stanley Cup) Playoffs is about momentum, and if there’s any opportunity to grab a little bit of momentum and roll it in the right direction, you have to take advantage of that.”

But the Golden Knights have to win the next game before we start talking about the advantage they could have.

“I think this is the most important game. It’s either going to be 2-2 or 3-1. That’s a pretty big swing, so I think both teams are going to have their best game tomorrow,” Golden Knights defenseman Dylan Coghlan said. “For us, I don’t think it’s necessarily changing a lot. It’s just kind of sticking to it when we have a lead, and we know how to play with a lead. The last couple of games have gotten away from us in short amounts of time, but we’ll be ready."

Yes, in Game 3 the Golden Knights blew a 4-0 lead in the third period, during which they allowed three goals in 39 seconds. In fact, it was the third time this series that they have given up a third-period lead.

In Game 1, Brett Howden gave Vegas a 4-3 lead at 1:21 of the third period before Shayne Gostisbehere tied it for Carolina at 11:19. Luckily, Tomas Hertl answered back with the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal for the Golden Knights at 16:36.

In Game 2, Carolina entered the third period down 2-0 before scoring three straight times to take a 3-2 lead. Vegas forward Mark Stone did tie it 3-3 at 18:39 of the third, but Seth Jarvis won it for the Hurricanes with a power-play goal 3:56 into overtime.

Outside of that insane sequence in Game 3, however, the Golden Knights believe they did a lot of things right and don’t want to change too much heading into Game 4.

“There are always things you can tighten up, but I didn’t think we were playing that poorly in the third period of the game. We had a bad (39) seconds, really. I thought overall we were playing great until that point. They made a couple of plays,” Stone said. “We improve on those, we learn from them, we move on and try to get our game going in the right direction.”

The Golden Knights also relied on their mental fortitude to get themselves through Game 3, something that coach John Tortorella said was clearly here before he took over as coach on March 29. There are also several players remaining from Vegas' Cup-winning team in 2023, including forwards Jack Eichel, Stone and William Karlsson, and defensemen Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb.

That mental toughness should serve them well in Game 4, too.

“I haven’t been involved in a game, especially a playoff game, when a team scores three goals within 40 seconds in the Final. That can set you back a little bit," Tortorella said. "It didn’t affect us. There was no panic. I actually thought we were playing really well up to that point, and I thought we played really well after that point.

“Again, they get it. That’s the only way I can explain it to you guys is that they get it. They’ve been there. A lot of this team has won and has gone through the process of going through the playoffs, and they rely on that. I think they challenge themselves. It isn’t a physical skill. It’s a mental skill and we have that. I don’t know if we win the series, but I know we have that in this organization.”

The Golden Knights have been great no matter where they’ve played this postseason, going 7-2 at T-Mobile Arena and 7-3 on the road. Nevertheless, they’ll have a golden opportunity (no pun intended) in front of them at home on Tuesday.

“Anytime you can get up 3-1, it’s massive and you’re just trying to take care of home ice,” Golden Knights forward Cole Smith said. “We only get three games at home in this series if it goes seven, so you’ve got to make the most of it and use whatever advantage you can. Their building’s a tough place to play in, ours is too, and you have to take advantage of those home games.”