Knights to keep calm, play smart in Game 3
No panic in 2OT loss to Sharks in Game 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Shea Theodore has seen worse.
Last season, the Golden Knights defenseman was a member of the Anaheim team that lost the first two games of the Western Conference semifinals at home. The Ducks came back to win the next two games on the road and went on to eliminate Edmonton in seven games.
Heading on the road with the series tied is far from a worst-case scenario to Theodore.
“There’s really no pressure in this room,” Theodore said. “I feel like we’ve been a calm group all year. We’ve played that underdog role all year with every team. We played that in the first series with L.A.
“Going into their building with the series 1-1, we knew we were going to have to go in and win on the road anyway, so we’re looking forward to getting back at it.”
The Knights face their first bit of adversity in the postseason, as San Jose wrestled away home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series with Saturday’s 4-3 victory in double overtime.
But after a Sunday spent digesting what went wrong, the Knights shifted their focus toward Game 3 at 7 p.m. Monday at SAP Center.
“It’s a seven-game series. You’re not expecting to go through playoffs undefeated,” defenseman Deryk Engelland said. “You’ve got to take
KNIGHTS
away some things from (Saturday) night. We’ve got to stay out of the box and sharpen up our game, come ready to go.”
Saturday’s loss was the first of the postseason for the Knights and came in slightly controversial fashion.
Jonathan Marchessault’s goal with 3:02 remaining in the first overtime was overturned for goaltender interference by the NHL Situation Room, which conducts video reviews. San Jose’s Logan Couture scored a power-play goal 5:13 into the second overtime to even the series.
Knights coach Gerard Gallant hinted his group might have been a little overconfident after trouncing the Sharks 7-0 in Game 1.
“It was the first time that since the playoffs started where I really said I was disappointed with our group,” Gallant said. “I didn’t think the complete effort was there. I didn’t think the one-on-one battle was there. I knew they were going to come out hard.
“We embarrassed them the game before, 7-0. You know the other team is going to come out hard and compete and battle hard. We’ve got to be ready for that, and I was just disappointed with our effort.”
The Knights continued their propensity for taking penalties and picked up 11 minors for 22 minutes. Their single-game high in penalty minutes during the regular season was 13, which happened three times.
In the two games against San Jose, the Knights have been called for 16 minor penalties, which has translated into 12
power-play chances for the Sharks.
David Perron took three penalties in Game 2, which included two dust-ups with San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon. Jon Merrill and Colin Miller each were penalized twice.
“Our discipline, that’s something we’ve got to be better,” goaltender Marc-andre Fleury said. “We’ve been so good at 5-on-5, and we’ve got to try and make sure that’s all we play. That’s how we can play everybody and everybody can contribute to our success that way.”
The Knights, who won both games in Los Angeles during the opening round of the playoffs, were 22-14-5 on the road during the regular season, tied for fourth in the league in points percentage.
That record includes a 5-3 road win over the Sharks on Feb. 8 and a 2-1 overtime loss on March 22 in San Jose.
“We’ve been able to bounce back from not having our best game all year,” Theodore said. “We liked that challenge going into L.A. in the first series, and we played well. Now it’s 1-1 and you know you’re just going to have to play your own game.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @Davidschoenlvrj on Twitter.