It hardly matters after the fact, but the Vegas Golden Knights certainly had early chances to potentially change the outcome of a 6-2 loss in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The game's best chance early on fell on the stick of James Neal, one of the best pure shooters in the league. With the game scoreless, he faced a wide-open cage with Braden Holtby and the Capitals' defense at his mercy.

He rung the post. After the game, he lamented that things would have been much different had he converted.

"On this stage, at that moment, it changes the game," Neal said, per Sportsnet's Luke Fox.

Washington opened the scoring shortly after with a power-play tally, which would set the wheels in motion. Neal struggled to come to grips with his inexplicable miss.

"Man, you want those chances," he said. "Nine times out of 10, you probably put that in the back of the net. It's like I had the composure to wait, and then you shoot it, and you're like 'Oh,' and the way it hit the post and still came out? I mean, it's ... I don't know, it's tough. It's not like anyone made a save. I had a wide-open net, and then I just hit the post."

The Capitals went on to score three more unanswered goals en route to a convincing win despite the Golden Knights controlling the pace for much of the game.

Neal buried his sixth of the postseason in the third period, but it's certainly not the one on his mind as the series shifts back to Vegas for Game 5.

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