FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Panthers - Game 4 - 2023

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Panthers – Game 4 – 2023

Franchise Sports Media

Vegas Golden Knights (15-6) vs Florida Panthers  (13-7)

 

The Vegas Golden Knights survive a late rally from the Panthers, winning 3-2, and are now one win away from winning the Stanley Cup.

It is game 4 of the Golden Knights vs Panthers series. 

The Vegas Golden Knights almost had deja vu being up a goal in the closing seconds but managed to survive, winning 3-2 in Game 4, and are now one win away from winning the Stanley Cup at home for Game 5 in Las Vegas. 

The Golden Knights dominated throughout the majority of the game, especially with the help of Chandler Stephenson scoring two goals and William Karlsson also scoring as well to help propel Vegas to a 3-1 series lead.

“We just didn’t want to lose,” Stephenson said. “We wanted to push as best we could try to take their fans out of it. I thought we did a lot of good things last game and wanted to try to continue that tonight and just try to have a killer instinct.”

Even though the Golden Knights had control of the game halfway, that did not stop the Panthers from trying to rally back from down three goals. Brandon Montour and Aleksander Barkov each scored a goal for the Panthers, but Vegas managed to survive after a last-second blocked shot in the end. 

“Obviously, that was a battle till the last second,” said Vegas forward Nicolas Roy. “They pushed back there. We knew they would. They’ve been doing it all series. But it’s nice to get that one, for sure.”

The Stanley Cup trophy will be in Las Vegas for Game 5, with the chance for the Golden Knights to win their first NHL championship in franchise history.

“It’s a different game than the other ones, a lot more emotion, a lot more of everything,” Stephenson said. “Everybody knows what’s going to be there. I think just try to play. That’s the biggest thing. Being at home too, the fans, everybody is going to be into it. The emotion is going to be high. Adrenaline. Everything. The biggest thing is just to be composed. Shift by shift. It’s all the cliches, but I feel confident.”

The Panthers now must dig deep to rally back. Taking one game at a time is the mindset the Florida Panthers need to stay alive in this series.

“You’ve got to win four,” Barkov said. “It’s 3-1. I know they’re one win away, and we’re three wins away, but all we can do is think about one game, bringing it back to Florida, and that’s our goal. That’s what we want to do in Vegas, go there and try to win that game.”

End of the first period in the Golden Knights vs Panthers series

The Golden Knights had something to prove and wanted to extend their series lead, but they needed to win on the road.

The start of periods 2 and 3 in the Golden Knights vs Panthers series.

The Golden Knights did not hesitate to start the game off the right way. At just 1:39 into the first period, Chandler Stephenson scored to put Vegas on the board first, 1-0.

Throughout the first period, Vegas maintained the lead and managed to outplay the Panthers.

Going into the second period, Chandler Stephenson scored his second goal of the night after firing a one-timer to extend the lead 2-0 for Vegas.

“We just didn’t want to lose,” Stephenson said. “We wanted to push as best we could try to take their fans out of it. I thought we did a lot of good things last game and wanted to try to continue that tonight and just try to have a killer instinct.”

The 2-0 lead was not enough. Just over four minutes later, William Karlsson scored from the left circle off a rebound to extend the lead to 3-0. It was Karlsson’s 11th goal of the playoffs.

With the Golden Knights up 3-0, they seemed to be in the driver’s seat but got too comfortable when Florida went on the board finally after Brandon Montour scored to cut the score to 3-1.

In the third period, Florida was not done just yet and was in a prime position to rally back. Just over three minutes into the third period, Aleksander Barkov scored to pull Florida within a goal to make the score 3-2. 

Sergei Bobrovsky did an excellent job of keeping the Panthers within a goal throughout the third period, but it was still not enough for them to make a complete rally as they did in Game Three. Vegas held on to win 3-2. 

The Panthers have been in this situation before. They were down 3-1 against the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs and rallied back to win the whole series.

“I believe fully that we’ve earned the right to play our best hockey in a difficult situation,” Maurice said. “All we want to do is get this thing back here. It’s not the series; it’s not a game. It’s just get this thing back home and give our fans another look at us.”

For the Vegas Golden Knights, they have a golden opportunity to win the Stanley Cup at home.

“We’ve played really well at home here in the playoffs, so you’ve got to feel pretty good going home with a 3-1 lead,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said.

The final score in game 4 of the Golden Knights vs Panthers series was 3-2, Vegas.

On Tuesday, the Golden Knights will play the Florida Panthers in Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile  Arena. The puck drop is at 5:00 PM. The game can be seen on AT&T SportsNet (channel 313 on Cox Cable) and TNT (channel 18 on Cox cable) or heard on 98.9 FM, FOX Sports Las Vegas 1340 AM.