WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomas Tatar will be in the lineup for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Washington Capitals on Monday, coach Gerard Gallant confirmed.
Tatar, who has not played since Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Winnipeg Jets, will see his first action of the Cup Final. The Golden Knights trail the series 2-1 and are in need of a spark offensively. Vegas lost 3-1 to the Capitals in Game 3 on Saturday.
“He’s a goal scorer,” Gallant said. We wanted to change our lineup a little bit, obviously losing two games in a row. He gives us a little more offense.”
As for who comes out for Tatar, there’s the big mystery. The assumption based at Vegas morning skate Monday is David Perron will be out of the lineup. Perron skated with the scratches while Tatar was on the third line with Cody Eakin and Ryan Carpenter.
Golden Knights rookie forward Alex Tuch skated with the second line of Erik Haula and James Neal, hoping to provide some sort of spark for a top six that has struggled heavily in this series.
Gallant added there could be one more change to the lineup. What that is, who in the world knows?
Tatar said he found out Sunday night that he was playing.
“We didn’t play our game the first three, even the one we won,” Tatar said. “We want to be better. Obviously, maybe something we have to change or do better to get back to our game, and that’s our focus today.”
After scoring six goals in Game 1, the Golden Knights have scored three in the past two games. The lone goal in Game 3 came from fourth-line forward Tomas Nosek, his third of the series.
If the Golden Knights want to make this series 2-2 back to Vegas for Game 5, there needs to be more scoring from just the bottom line. The Golden Knights are hoping Tatar can bring that.