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Vegas Golden Knights Can’t Look Like An Expansion Team In Game 4

By Derian Carmichael

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 02: Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Vegas Golden Knights reacts against the Washington Capitals in Game Three of the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Capital One Arena on June 2, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 02: Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Vegas Golden Knights reacts against the Washington Capitals in Game Three of the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Capital One Arena on June 2, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The Vegas Golden Knights are behind the eight-ball going into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final

The Vegas Golden Knights looked like an expansion team for the first time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their Game 3 loss to the Washington Capitals. A repeat performance in Game 4 could potentially result in the end of a dream season.

All season long, experts, fans, and outsiders were wondering when Vegas would finally look like the expansion team they are supposed to be. They’ve proven doubters wrong at every stage of the season. Many expected the drop off to come during U.S. Thanksgiving. Then it was the New Year. Then it was the All-Star break. After that, the trade deadline. Then the start of the playoffs.

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For the Golden Knights’ entire run to the Stanley Cup Final, they’ve appeared like a well-oiled machine marching towards their goal of winning it all. However, after the club’s Game 3 loss, the magical chariot that brought Vegas this far seemed to turn back into a pumpkin. The Knights looked like an expansion team for the first time all season.

The Golden Knights never looked comfortable in Game 3. It’s almost as if the Washington crowd got to Vegas in their first road game of the Stanley Cup Final. They were never able to get anything going offensively as Braden Holtby turned away 21 of 22 shot attempts. Vegas was also guilty of taking bad penalties at bad times that either killed off any little momentum they had created or handed momentum directly to the Capitals.

If the Golden Knights enter Game 4 looking as lost on the ice as they did in Game 3 then it’ll just be a matter of time before Alex Ovechkin lifts the Stanley Cup over his head. A 3-1 series lead for the Capitals would all but clinch the franchise’s first championship as it’s hard to imagine Holtby losing three games in a row given how well he’s played in the playoffs.

One thing Vegas must find is their own warrior determined to lead his team to victory much like Ovechkin has put his team on his back at times in the postseason. In Game 3, it felt as if the Golden Knights were looking around at each other wondering when someone was going to do something instead of stepping up themselves and leading the charge. This is what is to be expected from an expansion team, not a Stanley Cup finalist.

Still, it’s hard to count out Vegas, as they’ve surprised everyone before. After all, this is the club that dethroned the Los Angeles Kings, sank the San Jose Sharks, and grounded the Winnipeg Jets. Many thought the Kings’ playoff experience would have the Golden Knights’ number. They thought the Sharks would learn from Los Angeles’ mistakes and they thought the Jets had too much depth for Vegas to handle.

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What none of those teams did was make the Golden Knights look like an expansion team and that is exactly what the Capitals did in Game 3. If Washington manages to do it again in Game 4 then the clock truly will strike midnight on Vegas’ Cinderella season.

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