By: Owen Kewell

The Golden Knights kept finding ways to pull it off. Driven by all-world goaltending, an opportunistic counter-attack, and the desire to prove the rest of the hockey world wrong (especially their former teams), the group that James Neal affectionately dubbed the ‘Golden Misfits’ put together a Cinderella run through the Western Conference and into the Stanley Cup Final.

Only midnight appears to be approaching faster than anticipated.

After a 6-2 loss at the hands of the Washington Capitals yesterday, the Golden Knights find themselves searching for answers as their first elimination game in franchise history looms. The last three games, which Vegas has lost by a combined score of 12-5, featured a team that appeared much different from the group we saw roll their way through the Western Conference and into a 1-0 Stanley Cup Final lead.

So what’s different?

Goaltending is the obvious answer. After posting a save percentage above .930% for each of the first three rounds, Fleury’s mark is a paltry .845% through four games in the Final. Anyone could point out that Fleury needs to be better, and while it’s not wrong, it’s not particularly insightful.

Instead, I wanted to investigate the play of Vegas’ other big guns, who have been similarly subpar in their recent string of losses. I’m referring to the Knights’ three-headed monster of a top line, which features William Karlsson between Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith. These three have been catalysts for their team’s offense all season and are similarly 1-2-3 in team scoring for these playoffs.

The table below compares all-situations production of Vegas’ top line during the first 16 playoff games, which includes Rounds 1-3 and Game 1 of the Cup Final, versus their production in the last 3 games.