{"id":559844,"date":"2026-04-26T08:27:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T08:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/559844\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T08:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T08:27:22","slug":"vegas-golden-knights-need-star-production-against-utah-mammoth-in-game-4-golden-knights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/559844\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegas Golden Knights need star production against Utah Mammoth in Game 4 | Golden Knights"},"content":{"rendered":"

SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 The Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> need their top players to get going.<\/p>\n

A simple messaging. One that shouldn\u2019t need reinforcing this time of year.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the difference in why the Knights trail the Utah Mammoth 2-1 in the best-of-seven series with a crucial Game 4 at Delta Center on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get some guys on track,\u201d coach John Tortorella said.<\/p>\n

The cumulative scoreboard in this series reads 9-8 in favor of the Mammoth. On paper, it\u2019s been that close.<\/p>\n

Five players from each team have found the back of the net following Utah\u2019s 4-2 win in Game 3<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about who is scoring the goals right now.<\/p>\n

Utah\u2019s top players are getting it done. The Mammoth have gotten two goals each from three top-six forwards and a top-four defenseman.<\/p>\n

Mammoth winger Dylan Guenther showed in Game 3 why he has one of the best shots in the league. Center Logan Cooley continues to be a menace at both ends.<\/p>\n

Utah forward Lawson Crouse scored twice in the second period to give Utah\u2019s top line its first points of the series.<\/p>\n

The Knights, meanwhile, are getting depth scoring, but not from their top playmakers.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve gotten three goals from their fourth line \u2014 two, as of Friday, from center Nic Dowd.<\/p>\n

Captain Mark Stone has two goals, but both have come on the power play. Ivan Barbashev has two, but one was an empty-netter.<\/p>\n

Jack Eichel scored his first goal of the playoffs Friday, but it came when the Knights trailed 4-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to shy away from it. Our top guys have got to score some goals for us,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cThey know that, too. I don\u2019t have to remind them. They know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peel back the curtain more, and there are seven Knights players who haven\u2019t registered a point.<\/p>\n

Two of them are top-four defensemen, Shea Theodore and Rasmus Andersson, who have are a combined minus-3.<\/p>\n

One is a top-six winger, Brett Howden, who has been quiet while playing on a line with Pavel Dorofeyev and Mitch Marner.<\/p>\n

Dorofeyev, who led the team with 37 goals in the regular season, was moved down to the fourth line Friday and didn\u2019t have his best chances until he was put on that line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that there was some positives from the game, and I liked a lot of things that we did,\u201d Eichel said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to win this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knights felt there was plenty of good coming out of Game <\/a>3<\/a>, especially with the way they defended the Mammoth in the neutral zone.<\/p>\n

They held Utah to 12 shots \u2014 the fewest ever allowed in a playoff game \u2014 while controlling most of the game in the offensive zone.<\/p>\n

Tortorella thinks that will come, but it starts with taking care of things on the defensive side. Even though they fell behind 4-0, Tortorella said progress starts with how they defend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still need to get some guys on track, but I want us to defend the proper way,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the most important thing. We defend the proper way, our offense will come. I have full trust in the guys that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knights could have used their power play to let their top players get in the flow, but the unit went 0-for-4 in Game 3.<\/p>\n

Tomas Hertl still has not scored since March 4. If there\u2019s one who could benefit from a power play goal, it\u2019s the team\u2019s net-front presence.<\/p>\n

Marner was the Knights\u2019 best player on Friday, but still doesn\u2019t have a goal in three games and was held off the score sheet in Game 3.<\/p>\n

The series is tight, both in scoreboard and series. The difference is Utah\u2019s big-dollar players are getting it done. The Knights need to find their way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason there\u2019s seven games in a series. I think that the belief in this group doesn\u2019t change with the outcome of a game,\u201d Dowd said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I think life works in general. You do things the right way, you\u2019re going to be successful in life. I think hockey is the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @DannyWebster21<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Who: Golden Knights at Mammoth<\/p>\n

What: Game 4, first round (Mammoth lead 2-1)<\/p>\n

When: TBD, Monday<\/p>\n

Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City<\/p>\n

TV: TBD<\/p>\n

Radio: KFLG 94.7 FM\/KKGK 1340 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 The Vegas Golden Knights need their top players to get going. A simple messaging.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5129],"tags":[149,5317,5,4,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-559844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-golden-knights","9":"tag-goldenknights","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-vegas","13":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","14":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116470064315391381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}