Blackhawks hang in there, but can't solve Vegas

The Blackhawks had more than enough chances Saturday night.

But three-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie Marc-Andre Fleury - as well as those pesky posts - kept getting in the way, and the Vegas Golden Knights walked out of Rogers Place with a 2-1 victory in Game 3 and a stranglehold on this best-of-seven series.

The Hawks, who now trail three games to none, face a do-or-die Game 4 in the Edmonton bubble on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.

"We did a lot of good things," said captain Jonathan Toews. "We were working for the bounces. Pucks were laying around. Just didn't find the back of the net. Tomorrow we just got to believe that we will."

Vegas took a 1-0 lead when William Karlsson scored short-handed at 4:12 of the first period. The Golden Knights made it 2-0 when Patrick Brown banged home a rebound at 15:23 of the second.

Olli Maatta finally beat Fleury with 13:39 remaining to make it 2-1, but the Hawks never found the equalizer despite getting numerous good looks.

Fleury made 26 saves in his first appearance of the series.

"It's good to see the gold pads back," said Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt. "That's world class goaltending right there."

The Hawks had so many glorious opportunities in the first two periods, one had to wonder how they weren't leading 4-2 or 5-2.

But ...

• Patrick Kane - with a yawning net in front of him in the waning seconds of the first period - misfired on a one-timer, hitting the outside of the right post.

• Alex DeBrincat, who had 8 of the Hawks' first 20 shots on goal, failed to lift the puck into the net after getting in deep on Fleury 80 seconds into the second period.

• Fleury then denied a DeBrincat one-timer by closing his elbow before the puck found a hole.

• Then - with the Hawks on the power play to start the third period - Fleury clamped his pads in the nick of time to stuff a Toews one-timer.

Fleury was most grateful for Kane's shot that drew iron, saying: "I heard the post and that was a nice surprise, so I got to say thank you to the post."

One has to wonder if the Hawks are feeling a tad snake bitten. A bounce here or a bounce there and this could be a very different series.

"Well, we can't be a victim," Colliton said. "We're playing hard. Proud of the work ethic. We need to find another level. We can feel sorry for ourselves later on. Now's not the time for that.

"Now we've got to be better than them for 60 tomorrow."

A pair of miscues led to both of Vegas goals.

The first came by Duncan Keith, who lost control of the puck at the offensive blue line and had it stripped by Mark Stone, who fed Karlsson across ice. Karlsson moved in, worked the puck to his backhand and lifted a shot that sailed over Corey Crawford's right shoulder.

Brown's goal was a direct result of Adam Boqvist getting too flat-footed in the neutral zone, allowing Vegas to fly into the offensive zone on an odd-man rush.

As for the series, it's likely all but over, but credit the Hawks for hanging with Vegas. They were down just 2-1 after two periods in Game 1 and took the Golden Knights to overtime in Game 2.

"The only choice we have right now is not to be frustrated and to focus on tomorrow," Toews said. "(If) we keep doing a lot of the same things, we still have that belief that we can get a win, and we'll go from there."

Kane (24:41 of ice time) collected his 80th career postseason assist on Maatta's goal, joining Stan Mikita (91) and Denis Savard (84) as the only Hawks to reach that milestone.