Series tied: Golden Knights eager to turn the page after ugly 4-0 loss

By Jesse Granger

Wednesday, May 2, 2018 | 11:05 p.m.

SAN JOSE — When the Golden Knights’ plane touches down in Las Vegas early Thursday morning, the players will already be over Wednesday night’s ugly 4-0 loss in San Jose.

The game wasn’t pretty, as the Sharks dominated nearly every minute en route to a convincing win on home ice to even the best-of-seven series at 2-2. The shots on goal were an even 34-34, but San Jose had overwhelming advantages in scoring chances (19-11) and even high-danger scoring chances (11-5).

Goaltender Martin Jones made several spectacular saves and handed the Golden Knights their first postseason shutout loss in franchise history.

As forward Jonathan Marchessault left the ice for the second intermission — with his team trailing 3-0 — he swung his stick in frustration, clanging it indignantly off the goalpost.

Now he’ll get a restful night of sleep in his own bed, eat a home-cooked meal and completely forget about the game.

“Midnight is a new day and tomorrow we recharge our batteries,” Marchessault said. “You just start over. You can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. We just move on.”

Professional athletes pull off unbelievable physical feats with ease — whether it’s a no-look touch pass right to the tape on the stick of a player streaking down the ice at 20 mph or a blistering slapshot that finds the net with pinpoint precision.

But the mental fortitude they display may be even more impressive.

Some fans take the loss harder than the players, and most struggle to turn the page like the athletes themselves seem to do relatively easily.

“Tomorrow is a new day,” defenseman Deryk Engelland said. “We get up, regroup and get back at it. I go to sleep once I get home, get up and get ready to go.”

It will be a long flight home. Well, as long as a 500-mile flight on a chartered private jet can be.

“The freshest thing that’s in your mind is tonight, and you’re never happy when you lose,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said, after giving up the most goals he has in a regulation playoff game this season. “We had a chance to hurt them tonight with a win and we didn’t. It’s back to square one with a tied series and we just have to get ready for the next one.”

The team has about 45 hours between the end of the 4-0 drubbing and Game 5 in Las Vegas to get over it.

“You can’t take it with you,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “We turn the page. The game is over, there’s nothing we can do now. We have to get better so we’ll watch some tape, talk to a few players and say we have to be better in some areas.”

Luckily for the Golden Knights, their next game is at T-Mobile Arena, where they’ll be welcomed home by 18,000-plus screaming fans.

“We know the support we get at home and our players will be ready,” Gallant said. “We weren’t at our best tonight but we’ll be ready Friday night. We knew it was going to be a great series.”

The series has become a best-of-three, with two of the games being played in Las Vegas.

“We worked all year for that home-ice advantage,” Marchessault said. “I think that if we battle hard and play well at home we’ll be fine.”

The Golden Knights have outscored opponents 13-5 at home this postseason, including a 7-0 win over the Sharks in the first game of the series.

“I’m not worried about our team,” Fleury said.

Gallant is equally confident entering Game 5, closing the press conference Wednesday night with, “There’s no doubt we’ll be ready to go.”