For the Golden Knights, protecting playoff leads has proven problematic

By Jesse Granger

Wednesday, May 2, 2018 | 2 a.m.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Golden Knights may lead San Jose 2-1 in their second-round best-of-seven series, but they’ve surrendered two-goal leads in each of the last two games.

That’s an area of concern entering the fourth game of the series at 7 tonight.

Vegas raced out to an early 2-0 lead in Game 2 before giving up three-straight goals in the second period. While Nate Schmidt forced overtime with a third-period goal, the Golden Knights lost a game they should have won in double overtime.

Then, Monday in San Jose, Vegas blew a 3-1 lead entering the third period and allowed the Sharks to force overtime. William Karlsson saved the day with an overtime goal, but the lack of ability to protect a lead was again a problem.

“No lead is safe in hockey these days,” veteran defenseman Deryk Engelland said. “You sit back and that’s when they get momentum and things happen. You have to just keep pushing and try to match that intensity.”

The Golden Knights struggled to protect leads late in games early in the season, highlighted by contests in October against St. Louis and Buffalo in which they surrendered seemingly comfortable leads late. The Golden Knights were guilty of playing not to lose in the final minutes instead of continuing with the same intensity that helped get them the advantage.

But players insist that’s not what’s happening in the playoffs. While it’s easy to blame Vegas for not holding the lead, San Jose has made great plays.

Evander Kane made it a one-goal game Monday with an outstanding shot that beat Marc-Andre Fleury’s glove, and then Tomas Hertl banged a rebound attempt past Fleury following a mad scramble in front of the net.

“It’s playoff hockey, you see it all over the league,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “The Sharks made some plays, played good hockey and capitalized just after the power play.”

Many call a two-goal advantage the “worst lead in hockey” because it’s large enough to allow a team to lose its intensity but small enough for the other team to come back.

“I feel like when you lead by two goals you start to get a little comfy,” the Knights’ Tomas Tatar said. “It’s playoff hockey and anything can happen. We just have to play a full 60 minutes of our game and we’ll be fine.”

A win would put the Golden Knights up 3-1 in the series and in a great spot to advance to the Western Conference championship series. Of the 145 teams in NHL history that have taken a 3-1 lead on the road, 91.7 percent have gone on the win the series

Adversely, if the Sharks win tonight they would have a 39 percent chance to win the series — a huge jump from the 8.3 percent chance they’d have with a loss.

“There are always going to be mistakes in games and it’s the playoffs, so teams are pushing hard. We have to push back and try not to sit back and let them come at us,” Engelland said. “We’ve done a great job all year dealing with adversity and the ups and downs of the season. We know the guys will respond.”