Throughout the postseason, the Vegas Golden Knights have been excellent at clawing their way back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. But on Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes weathered the storm and stood their ground. The Hurricanes eked out a 5-3 win, sending the series back to Raleigh tied 2-2.

Through two periods of play, it looked like the Golden Knights were going to pull off another improbable win. In typical fashion, they trailed by two goals on two separate occasions, but came all the way back in the second period and headed into intermission tied 3-3.

Heading into the third period, they had all the momentum. They were playing well and were brimming with confidence after some of the comeback wins they’ve rattled off this postseason.

And then, disaster struck.

The Golden Knights turned the puck over behind their net twice in a seven-second span, and the Hurricanes took them to task for it.

Despite the fact that they never had the lead, it’s hard not to look at Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final as one that the Golden Knights allowed to slip away.

“Of course you feel that way when you come back from 3-1 to 3-3,” said defenseman Rasmus Andersson postgame. “And then, obviously, tied at home going into the third. For sure, you feel like that one slipped away.”

Game 5 is scheduled for Friday at 5:20 p.m. PST.

The Golden Knights take a lot of pride in their depth scoring. This team can run all four lines. It doesn’t matter the game situation; John Tortorella is comfortable sending any one of his four lines over the boards.

Because of the way they’re built, the Golden Knights don’t need Jack Eichel to score the way some other teams need their stars to score. Eichel is a point-per-game player this postseason and has largely driven the offense with his elite playmaking.

However, in the Stanley Cup Final, Eichel hasn’t looked like the dominant two-way center that the Golden Knights need him to be. He hasn’t been bad, per se, but he has just two assists and is a -3 in four games against the Hurricanes. He’s struggled with his zone entries, and he isn’t as strong on the puck as he usually is. At times, you can’t even tell that he’s on the ice.

The Golden Knights have gotten goals from their defensemen. They’ve gotten timely goals from their middle six forwards, and they’ve gotten critical goals from their fourth line. The one area in which the Golden Knights are lacking in scoring is from the Eichel line.

There’s a positive way to look at this. Eichel hasn’t taken over a game yet, but the Golden Knights are right in this thing. They didn’t capitalize on their opportunity to go up 3-1 in the series, but they’re still headed back to Raleigh tied 2-2.

But if the Golden Knights want to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history, they need more out of Jack Eichel.

Through three rounds of the postseason, the Golden Knights were exceptional in front of their own net. They didn’t allow many shots through; on the rare occasion that a shotdidget through, they were there to box out their opponents. They were quick and efficient at getting to loose pucks, and they didn’t allow Carter Hart to face many second chances off rebounds.

That hasn’t been the case through four games against the Hurricanes, and the Golden Knights are paying the price. Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal is doing most of the damage. After scoring just two goals through the first three rounds of the postseason, Staal has five goals in four games against the Golden Knights.

“He’s killing us in front of the net, Staal is. We’ve got to do a better job around the blue,” Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella said postgame. “He’s a big man. He’s a good player. That’s where he lives. We just got to do a better job… We’ve got to be stronger; we’ve got to win that battle.”

Coming into this series, the national narrative was that this Stanley Cup Final would be, for lack of a better word, boring. Through four games, this Stanley Cup Final has been anything but.

This is the first time in Stanley Cup Final history that the first four games have all featured a team erasing a multi-goal deficit. In Game 1, the Golden Knights overcame an early two-goal lead. In Game 2, the Hurricanes erased a two-goal deficit in the final 10 minutes of regulation. In Game 3, the Hurricanes clawed back from a four-goal deficit. And tonight, the Golden Knights were the team to erase two separate two-goal deficits.

This is also just the second time in Stanley Cup Final history that the teams have combined for four or more goals in three straight regulation periods. So much for a low-scoring affair, eh?

“There’s been some crazy momentum swings, and both teams are capitalizing,” said Colton Sissons following the 5-3 loss. “These things happen. It’s hard to put one explanation on it; it’s just two teams going at it and finding ways to score. Tight games, but, yeah, higher scoring than we're used to.”