Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Golden Knights miss chance to eliminate Canucks, fall in Game 5

Golden Knights Canucks VGK

Vancouver Canucks’ Elias Pettersson (40) celebrates a goal on Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner (90), next to Brayden McNabb (3) during the third period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020, in Edmonton, Ontario. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Updated Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020 | 10:45 p.m.

It’s not that the Golden Knights played poorly or that they didn’t want it enough against the Vancouver Canucks, a team facing elimination.

The Golden Knights have lost three games this postseason, including Tuesday’s Game 5 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, and in all three they were the better team. Vegas more than doubled the Canucks in shots and scoring chances and kept them to a postseason low in dangerous chances, but still lost 2-1.

Vegas leads 3-2 in the series. Game 6 of the second round will be at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.

“It’s hockey. There’s always things you can do better,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “But at the same time we didn’t play poorly. We created a lot of looks.”

Every metric says the Golden Knights should have won Tuesday’s game. They led in shots on goal 44-17, in shot attempts 79-38, in scoring chances 38-15, in expected goals 3.5-1.2, and held the Canucks to just four high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, the fewest Vegas has allowed this postseason.

To open the first and the second periods, Vegas held the Canucks without a shot on goal for more than 10 minutes apiece. But for the second time this postseason — and second time in a potential clinch game — the opposing goalie played one of the best games of his life. Thatcher Demko took the net for the Canucks, the first postseason start in the 24-year-old’s career. He batted away 43 shots to save Vancouver’s season.

It’s the same story Vegas faced last round. Chicago goalie Corey Crawford turned away 48 shots to prevent a Vegas sweep. If it’s any consolation for the Golden Knights, they eliminated Crawford and the Blackhawks in the next game.

The Golden Knights scored first as they have eight other times these playoffs, but Tuesday was the first time they lost such a game. Vegas bombarded the Vancouver net for a period and a half without a goal, registering 24 shots on goal before Shea Theodore changed the scoreboard for the first time.

Click to enlarge photo

Vegas Golden Knights' Shea Theodore (27) is congratulated for his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020, in Edmonton, Ontario.

And what a goal it was. Theodore’s breakout postseason continued at the 15:12 mark of the second, when he walked in from the blue line, deked around three Vancouver defenders and roofed it by Demko for a 1-0 lead.

The in-arena announcer didn’t get to finish announcing the goal by the time the Canucks evened it up. Silent for most of the game, Vancouver had just seven shots on goal when Theodore scored. The eighth ended up in the back of the net courtesy of Brock Boeser, and just like that the game was tied.

Vancouver came alive at the start of the third period and for the first time sustained some offense. The Canucks weren't in the Vegas zone long but it was enough. A Boeser offering went off Elias Pettersson’s stick in front of the Vegas net and changed direction just enough to sneak by Robin Lehner for what held up as the game-winning goal.

“That’s playoff hockey,” defenseman Alec Martinez said. “These are going to be close games, and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of this one.”

On Thursday, the Golden Knights will play a Game 6 for just the third time in its history and, oddly, the first time it won’t be against the San Jose Sharks. It’s frustrating for the Golden Knights because if everything played out as expected from both the eye test and the numbers, they’d get a few days off and watch the end of the other Western Conference semifinal.

It’s the same story as Vegas’ other two losses in the Edmonton bubble. In the Game 4 loss to Chicago last round, the Game 2 loss to Vancouver and Tuesday, the Golden Knights outshot the opposition 133-69, had the edge in high-danger scoring chances 44-22 and generated 59% of the expected goals.

“Some mistakes ended up in the back of our net, and those can’t happen this time of year,” Theodore said. “We just need to refocus and get ready for the next one.”

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