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Golden Knights add Tatar to lineup for Game 4 of Stanley Cup Final

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The Vegas Golden Knights, who have lost the past two games of the Stanley Cup Final to the Washington Capitals after prevailing in the opener, will insert Tomas Tatar into their lineup Monday night in hopes the Slovakian winger can revive their flagging offense. Vegas coach Gerard Gallant wouldn’t say who will be scratched, but indications at the morning skate were that David Perron will come out of the lineup.

Gallant said switching things up to play Tatar “is not an issue,” and said there could be one more addition to his lineup. He wouldn’t specify what that addition might be.

Tatar’s appearance isn’t surprising. Vegas has been held to three goals in losing its past two games and is one for seven on the power play in those games.

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“He’s a goal scorer, we wanted to change the lineup a little bit, obviously, losing two games in a row,” Gallant said. “Gives us a little bit more offense. … He can shoot the puck, is good on the power play. He’ll play his game and our system and work hard. He’s excited to play, that’s for sure.”

Tatar skated on the left side with Cody Eakin and Ryan Carpenter during Monday’s morning skate. Also, winger Alex Tuch moved up to the second line with Erik Haula and James Neal.

Tatar, acquired by Vegas general manager George McPhee before the trade deadline, has had difficulty keeping a regular spot with his new team. He has played only six of the Golden Knights’ 19 playoff games this spring and has scored one goal. He last played in Game 3 of their Western Conference final victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Perron, who had 16 goals and 66 points in 70 regular-season games, has no goals and eight assists in 14 playoff games. For his career, he has scored only three goals in 56 postseason games.

Tatar said he had no trouble forgetting any disappointment he had over not being called upon earlier in the Golden Knights’ postseason run. “This is the playoffs and all the personal feelings goes aside,” he said. “We’re all here for one goal, and that’s to win. And it doesn’t matter who is in and who is out. Everybody is going for one goal and wants to win.”

He repeated what many of his teammates have said about the Golden Knights’ inability so far to return to the high level of play they showed while getting through the first three playoff rounds in merely 15 games. “We didn’t play our game the first three, even the one we won. We want to be better,” Tatar said. “Obviously maybe something we have to change or do better to get back to our game, and that’s our focus today.”

Tomas Tatar is congratulated by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare after scoring a goal against Winnipeg on May 14.
(Jason Halstead / Getty Images )
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Defenseman Nate Schmidt said there are no secrets about what the Golden Knights must do in order to prevent Washington from taking a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 will be played on Thursday at Las Vegas.

“We have seen some of the things that have made us successful, and that’s being confident in what we’re doing and moving our feet and getting back to the game that we want to play,” he said. “We haven’t played the way we wanted these three games.

“It’s mainly what’s happening in here. We’ve got to be better. Plain and simple. Our guys need to be better. I’ve got to be better. The top guys need to play better, they need to produce. We all need to be better. That’s what it comes down to.”

The Capitals held their morning skate at their practice facility in Arlington, Va., and Alex Ovechkin said he and his teammates weren’t allowing themselves to think ahead to the prospect of taking a 3-1 lead. “Right now, for us it’s to stay the same way. We take one game at a time and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “If you’re going to think too much, I think you’re going to put yourself in a bad position. I think we’re still going to put lots of pressure on ourselves and just play our game.”

Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said players’ ability to stay in the moment was crucial. “You don’t want to get too far ahead. I don’t think we have,” he said. “We know the important of this game. Obviously you can put yourself in a real good position after tonight. At the same time, we know we’re playing a very good opponent, one that’s very desperate and an opponent that’s going to have its best game. We have to have our best game. If we don’t, the series gets tied up.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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