Shea Theodore scored in overtime and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Utah Mammoth 5-4 in Game 4 on Monday night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, leveling the series at 2-2 after a wild swing from one side to the other. Theodore’s winner came after Pavel Dorofeyev appeared to have ended it, only for the goal to be reviewed and wiped out because Jack Eichel entered the zone early by millimeters.
The Golden Knights looked like they might run away with it when they built a 3-0 lead early in the second period. Utah answered with goals from Nick Schmaltz and Ian Cole 29 seconds apart, then Michael Carcone and Clayton Keller scored two goals in the first five minutes of the third period to put the Mammoth ahead. Brett Howden, who scored his second goal of the game, tied it again and sent the game to overtime.
Utah had entered Game 4 on a roll after winning the previous two games, with a chance to push the series to 3-1 and put itself one win from the next round. Vegas was trying to do the opposite: stop the slide, tie the series and take back home ice. In the playoffs, that mattered. A team that goes up 3-1 has historically won the series 91 percent of the time.
Cole Smith said after the game that “there are going to be huge ebbs and flows,” and the forward’s words fit the night perfectly. He added, “It’s playoff hockey. Especially in an away environment. The message was just stick together and play our game. Everybody stuck together.” On the replay review that briefly threatened to take the goal away from Vegas, Smith said simply, “We didn’t know.”
The Golden Knights needed more than one clean finish to survive, and they got it after weathering Utah’s surge in a building where momentum turned fast. The series now heads to the next game tied, with the pressure reset and neither side able to hide behind what came before.