Peter DeBoer may be the envy of NHL coaches right now.
After all, the Vegas Golden Knights skipper could choose his goaltender by flipping a coin for Sunday's Game 4 against the Vancouver Canucks in Edmonton, and he couldn't seemingly lose either way.
On the one side, he has Marc-Andre Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup winner and an Olympic champion who has not lost to the Canucks in regulation since January 2006.
On the other side, he has Robin Lehner, who rebounded from a 5-2 loss in Tuesday's Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinal series to record his fourth career shutout against the Canucks (including playoffs). Lehner made 31 saves in a 3-0 win that lifted the Golden Knights to a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series.
Lehner, starting his fifth straight game, said the 1-2 punch he and Fleury give the Knights isn't a problem.
"It's a great thing to have," Lehner told the media. "Some people are not going to be happy when they don't play but we have a tight group in the dressing room. We are all supporting each other."
Alex Tuch, Mark Stone and Zach Whitecloud each scored once for the Knights.
Lehner managed to hold the Canucks' potent offense back, shutting down Elias Pettersson who leads the Canucks in the playoffs with 16 points (five goals, 11 assists). Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser fired four shots each at him, and Tyler Motte and Tyler Toffoli added three each.
"They're a fun team to play against," Lehner said. "(Antoine) Roussel is all over me all the time."
Canucks head coach Travis Green said he liked the way his team started the game despite being down 2-0 after the first period.
The Canucks outshot the Knights 16-9 in the first 20 minutes.
"I thought we were unlucky to be down 2-0," Green said. "I really liked our first period. We skated well, drew some penalties. I think we could as easily have been up ... but that's all part of playoff hockey. Sometimes you have a good period and you don't win it."
Green gave Lehner credit for some "nice saves" but expressed concern about the Canucks' level of composure.
"Sometimes with our team, when we get down," the coach said, "we tend to overpass the puck a little bit. I thought we had a few too many east-west plays in the offensive zone."
Tanner Pearson, who finished the night at minus-1 with three hits and three shot blocks, agreed with that assessment.
"When we move the puck too much, and I think in the neutral zone that was pretty evident, it's not hard to figure out," the 28-year-old Canucks left winger said. "If you look at the game we won, we chipped a lot of pucks in and chased it. It worked out for us.
"We have to keep it simple and not try to force it too much."
Saturday's game was rescheduled from Thursday after players on the eight remaining playoff teams decided not to take the ice as a form of protest against systemic racism and police brutality.
Lehner said the pause did nothing to steal his focus, especially considering the gravity of the issue.
"I'm pretty good at putting things away when it comes to game time," the 29-year-old Swede said. "There's been a lot of discussion about this issue and we're trying to figure out what we can do to help make it better."
--Field Level Media