Weak Goaltending and Missed Chances Cost the San Jose Sharks in Game 4

The San Jose Sharks suffered another heavy blow against the Vegas Golden Knights, falling 5-0 in an ill-fated performance at T-Mobile Arena.

It was never pretty from the beginning for the San Jose Sharks. Game 4 started just like the last two, and it ended much the same.

Once again, the Golden Knights struck first on a Mark Stone feed and a Max Pacioretty snipe just 71 seconds into the contest.

For the second consecutive night, Martin Jones let the first shot of the game sail past him into the white webbing, and the San Jose Sharks already felt the bleeding.

Vegas have been unstoppable when it comes to scoring early and often into the start of hockey games.

With that ice-breaking goal, seven of Vegas’ 16 goals have come within the first five minutes of periods this series.

Taking it one step further, in ten of the 18 all-time meetings, the Golden Knights have scored in the first five minutes of the game. It’s absolutely unbelievable, but here we are four games into the Stanley Cup Playoffs where Vegas leads 3-1.

The San Jose Sharks had their chances to respond in the first period on several occasions, including three momentum-shifting power-play opportunities.

Although empty-handed on the score sheet after San Jose’s early trio of man-advantages, the Sharks generated a steady stream of pressure on Fleury, outshooting Vegas 18-7 in the first period.

While the Sharks held the advantage in the quantity on shot clock, the Golden Knights strung together a stronger quality of shot attempts, including the final shot of the first period

Shea Theodore deked and dangled his way through San Jose’s sluggish defense and past a completely baffled Jones to give Vegas a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Jones’ night abruptly ended after that, finishing the evening with just five saves on seven shots on goal.

Aaron Dell entered the contest and started the second period on a positive note by not allowing Vegas to score in the first five minutes of the middle frame.

Back-and-forth, both teams created dangerous scoring chances in the offensive zones as the endless hits piled up and down the ice.

As this whole series has gone, another series of questionable calls led to a Golden Knights’ goal.

Starting at the Sharks blue line, Erik Karlsson swiftly carried the puck up to center. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tripped Karlsson, who lost possession, but no penalty was called. Moments later, Brenden Dillon streaked into enemy territory, fired a high snap shot at Fleury and shoved Colin Miller in the face with his stick.

As a result, the Golden Knights earned a power play and wasted no time. A one-time blast by Mark Stone caromed wildly off Dell right to Pacioretty, who buried his second goal of the game and fourth goal of the playoffs, extending the home team’s lead to three.

Joonas Donskoi, who filled in for Joe Thornton’s one-game suspension, was the best Sharks skater all night creating something out of nothing, but the rest of his teammates could not keep up with the hungry speedster.

Vegas scored two more goals in the third period, but in the end, the Golden Knights’ top performer was Marc-Andre Fleury. Flower secured a dominant 28-save shutout, his 15th career playoff shutout, in front of the jam-packed crowd of T-Mobile Arena.  to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Well, it’s do-or-die for the Sharks now. With as much emphasis as possible, they HAVE to use home-advantage to reverse the tide of momentum back in their favor, or else their season is over.