Panthers’ on brink of elimination after Golden Knights hang on to win Game 4

SUNRISE — There were no late-game heroics for the Panthers on Saturday night, and now their season hangs in the balance.

Two days after goals from Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe gave Florida hope, Vegas put the Stanley Cup nearly out of reach with a 3-2 victory at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise. Despite a Panthers’ comeback attempt, the Golden Knights now lead the Stanley Cup Final series 3-1 with the series headed back to Las Vegas.

“I think we had a good push back, and all we’ve got to do is take that for the next game and play like that the whole game,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “I know it’s tough against any team in this league to come back 3-nothing, but we almost did. So I take the good things and move on.”

Vegas got on the board early. Golden Knights center Chandler Stephenson got behind Florida’s defense for a short breakaway, flicking a wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovsky less than two minutes into the game.

The second period proved fatal to the Panthers’ chances. Stephenson, who has 10 postseason goals, found the back of the net for a second time, and center William Karlsson scored his 11th goal of the playoffs to put the Golden Knights up 3-0.

“It’s tough to say right now (what went wrong),” Barkov said. “I’m not really thinking about that, but obviously gave them a little too much space and time to make those plays. They got the three-goal lead, and we can’t really do that right now in this situation.”

Despite surrendering three goals in the first two periods, Bobrovsky kept the Panthers in the game, making 28 saves on 31 shots.

Defenseman Brandon Montour started the Panthers’ rally late in the second period. The veteran defender scored his eighth goal of the playoffs when his shot careened off Golden Knights defensemen Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore before getting past Vegas goalie Adin Hill.

“Down three, to find the energy reserve to drive as hard as they did, it’s why I love these guys,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s just no quit in them.”

Barkov got the Panthers within one with a third-period goal — his first of the series — with 16:10 remaining. But the Panthers were without Tkachuk, who scored the game-tying goal late in Game 3, for much of the third period and could not capitalize on their opportunities. Despite pulling Bobrovsky for the final 2:26 and getting a last-minute power play, Florida could not find the late goal it needed to tie the game.

“We have all the confidence in the world, and the guys that were going out there were doing an unreal job,” Tkachuk said.

The Panthers will have their chance to salvage the series in Game 5 on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Only one team, the 1942 Maple Leafs, has ever rallied from being down 3-1 in the Stanley Cup Final. But the Panthers know they have the ability to be the second team to accomplish the rare feat, having come back from a 3-1 deficit against the record-setting Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.

“You have that in your faith and you’ve also invested so very much, there’s a feeling of earned success,” Maurice said. “You’ve earned the right. So I would say this: I believe, fully, we’ve earned the right to play our best hockey in a difficult situation.

“All we want to do is get this thing back here. It’s not the series. … It’s just get this thing back home and give our fans another look at us.”