But, as Cassidy mentioned, he has a veteran group that includes many of the key contributors who won the Stanley Cup with Vegas two seasons ago.
They remember that feeling. They don’t want to surrender it without a fight.
“Be better, that’s sort of it,” Vegas forward Jack Eichel said. “… You’re at home, Game 5, win a game and go from there. That’s really all that matters at this point.
“Collectively as a group, I just think it needs to be better, cleaner and with more urgency.”
The Golden Knights need to get to the interior more. They had 23 shots on goal on Monday, but seven came from defensemen. Edmonton blocked 21 shots and Vegas missed the net on 10 others.
There was precious little chaos around Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner, who was coming off a shaky start in Game 3, when he allowed four goals on 24 shots.
But there was plenty around Vegas goalie Adin Hill, who was being bumped and jostled regularly. More than once, Hill took matters into his own hands, hitting Edmonton players with his stick or blocker early in the first period.
“That should drag some people into it,” Cassidy said. “It did for a minute, but we didn’t do the same thing at the other end. That’s the part that has to ensue after that.”
Instead, Adam Henrique, a depth forward for the Oilers, scored twice in the first 13:03 of the game, once from 16 feet away and once from 5 feet, to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead.
Vegas had two power plays in the first period and was not dangerous on either, allowing Edmonton to gain some confidence in one of the weaker parts of its game.
All of it needs to be different on Wednesday, minute by stackable minute in which the Golden Knights will have to be the better team, execute more regularly and convert more efficiently.
“It’s small picture right now,” Cassidy said. “Let’s see if we can get a lead by playing the right way, having more urgency than them, more desperation than them because that word now comes into play. They win and we are done.
“It’s cliché, but it is one game at a time. You have to win one game three times in a row.”
Vegas did that in the first round against the Minnesota Wild, turning a 2-1 series deficit into a six-game series win.
It’s something tangible for the Golden Knights to grab on to.
“I mean, we did it last series,” forward Reilly Smith said. “So, we have a lot of faith in this group, and we’ll just take it one at a time.”
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