Knights coach Gallant defends young Theodore

Gerard ARLINGTON,

Gallant made Shea Theodore skip a shift. He’s not making him walk the plank for two rough games.

Theodore’s struggles are a major reason the Golden Knights trail the Capitals 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final going into Game 4 on Monday night in Washington. The talented, young defenseman has been on the ice for four of the Capitals’ past six goals in the series and was primarily responsible for two in Vegas’ Game 3 loss Saturday night.

“Did Shea do something real bad? He plays the game like everybody else,” Vegas coach Gallant said Sunday in a passionate defense of Theodore. “He made a couple mistakes, they ended up in the back of our net. A lot of guys make mistakes in hockey games and they don’t end up in the back of the net. Shea’s a 22-year-old kid who I love. He’s a great player. He’s going to be a star in this league.”

Theodore doesn’t need to be a star, but he needs to be better for the Golden Knights to have a realistic chance of coming back in the Cup Final. In Game 3 alone, he made an ill-advised decision that sparked an odd-man rush on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s goal, and committed a brutal turnover that led to Devante SmithPelly’s goal that sealed it for Washington.

Trailing by two in the third period, Gallant sat the offensively gifted Theodore for more than three minutes after that giveaway. Gallant expects his whole team to be better with the puck, and Theodore knows that certainly includes him.

“Personally, not a good game,” Theodore said. “I’ve got to be better all over the ice and definitely recharge tomorrow and get back at it.”

The series won’t get to seven games if Theodore’s mistakes continue to haunt the Golden Knights. In addition to the blunders that cost them two goals, arguably Theodore’s worst play Saturday night came when he lollygagged down the ice on the power play and got outraced by Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen so badly goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had to come out of his net and wound up taking a tripping penalty.