Golden Knights seek ‘more desperation’ in must-win Game 5 against Oilers

SUMMERLIN, Nev. -- If anyone knows about the cruel vagaries of fate, it should be a team that calls Las Vegas home.

Facing a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-7 Western Conference Second Round, the Vegas Golden Knights aren’t interested in debating whether they belong in this predicament after a 3-0 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 on Monday.

They know it’s not the time for a wing and a prayer, nor is it a time for emotion to blind them.

No fiery speech, no hunches nor rationalizations are going to deliver them from this situation, facing near-certain elimination at the hands of the Oilers, beginning with Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Logic and facts are the currency needed.

“You get down 3-1 here, there are no magic potions to sprinkle around the room and say,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said Tuesday at the Golden Knights’ practice facility. “We are too far along as a team. A lot of guys in that room have won, they understand what is at stake.

“We have to play harder, we have to play better for longer. That’s a little bit of will right now. Do they want to do it to play on? We’ll find out tomorrow.”

That’s the message Cassidy planned to deliver to his team Tuesday. There would be no ranting, no raving, no Herb Brooks moment.

Just data, laid out in the cold, harsh light of day.

The Golden Knights have lost both Stanley Cup Playoff series they’ve trailed 3-1 in their history. Of the 352 NHL teams to face such a deficit, 32 have advanced, a success rate of 9.1 percent.

Cassidy said his team hasn’t been good enough, in any area, to think about being the next long shot to pay off.

Yes, the Golden Knights can point to the fact that they won Game 3 on the road, or that they lost Game 2 in overtime, or that they had an early lead in Game 1.

None of it’s been good enough.

But, as Cassidy mentioned, he has a veteran group that includes many of the key contributors who won the Stanley Cup with Vegas two seasons ago.

They remember that feeling. They don’t want to surrender it without a fight.

“Be better, that’s sort of it,” Vegas forward Jack Eichel said. “… You’re at home, Game 5, win a game and go from there. That’s really all that matters at this point.

“Collectively as a group, I just think it needs to be better, cleaner and with more urgency.”

The Golden Knights need to get to the interior more. They had 23 shots on goal on Monday, but seven came from defensemen. Edmonton blocked 21 shots and Vegas missed the net on 10 others.

There was precious little chaos around Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner, who was coming off a shaky start in Game 3, when he allowed four goals on 24 shots.

But there was plenty around Vegas goalie Adin Hill, who was being bumped and jostled regularly. More than once, Hill took matters into his own hands, hitting Edmonton players with his stick or blocker early in the first period.

“That should drag some people into it,” Cassidy said. “It did for a minute, but we didn’t do the same thing at the other end. That’s the part that has to ensue after that.”

Instead, Adam Henrique, a depth forward for the Oilers, scored twice in the first 13:03 of the game, once from 16 feet away and once from 5 feet, to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead.

Vegas had two power plays in the first period and was not dangerous on either, allowing Edmonton to gain some confidence in one of the weaker parts of its game.

All of it needs to be different on Wednesday, minute by stackable minute in which the Golden Knights will have to be the better team, execute more regularly and convert more efficiently.

“It’s small picture right now,” Cassidy said. “Let’s see if we can get a lead by playing the right way, having more urgency than them, more desperation than them because that word now comes into play. They win and we are done.

“It's cliché, but it is one game at a time. You have to win one game three times in a row.”

Vegas did that in the first round against the Minnesota Wild, turning a 2-1 series deficit into a six-game series win.

It’s something tangible for the Golden Knights to grab on to.

“I mean, we did it last series,” forward Reilly Smith said. “So, we have a lot of faith in this group, and we’ll just take it one at a time.”