from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

Seemingly having the game — and the series — in total control Thursday night, the Vegas Golden Knights looked stunned while they were getting showered by plastic rats under a frozen clock.

Up 2-0 in the series and 2-1 late in Game 3, they had the Florida Panthers on the mat. Yet here they were, skating off the FLA Live ice following the one-two punch of Matthew Tkachuk’s 6-on-5 tying goal and Carter Verhaeghe’s winner on the scrappy home side’s first shot of OT.

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy spoke of a “sour taste” postgame yet woke up Friday and rinsed his mouth. Staying five-star beachside in Fort Lauderdale, he gave his veteran group a full day off.

Sour taste gone for Cassidy and Knights, now ready to turn the page to Game 4Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 1:06Loaded: 14.95% Fullscreen

No video. No bus to the rink. No talk of the Panthers.

Relax. Reset. Do whatever is necessary to get your mind right.

“We’re not going to change a lot. We don’t need to,” a confident Cassidy proclaimed.

Captain Mark Stone is equally unfazed: “We knew it was going to be tough, right? They’re a resilient team. We want to be able to close games, but we’ll regroup and be ready for the next one.”

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