RALEIGH, N.C. — Coach John Tortorella remains steadfast in his belief that his Vegas Golden Knights can handle pressure situations as they battle toward the Stanley Cup Final.
His confidence hasn’t wavered, even with the Golden Knights now confronting their first do-or-die contest while managing an injury to center William Karlsson.
Vegas fell 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes in Thursday’s Game 5, putting Carolina just one win away from capturing the Stanley Cup. The series returns to Las Vegas for Sunday’s Game 6, where the Golden Knights must prevail to send the series back to Raleigh for Wednesday’s Game 7.
“They’ve been through it all,” Tortorella said in a Zoom news conference Friday morning. “They know what’s at stake here. We need to win one game. They’ll be ready to play.”
Vegas — with many players remaining from the squad that captured the Cup in 2023 — had built significant momentum following the sudden dismissal of coach Bruce Cassidy in late March when Tortorella was brought aboard.
The Golden Knights captured seven of eight games to finish the regular season. They encountered 2-2 series deadlocks in Round 1 versus Utah and Round 2 against Anaheim, then claimed Games 5 and 6 to advance from both. They dominated the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche with a sweep. They also established a 2-1 series advantage over Carolina following a double-overtime triumph in Game 3.
However, the Hurricanes have steadily started to shift the series momentum.
After falling behind 4-0 heading into the third period of Game 3, the Hurricanes have outscored the Golden Knights 13-6 while discovering renewed energy with Brandon Bussi assuming goaltending duties. In Game 5, the Hurricanes netted two additional power-play goals from a unit that had struggled throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs while also countering Vegas’ second-period control.
Vegas committed costly errors like successfully killing a penalty only to have Brayden McNabb immediately head to the penalty box for cross-checking Jackson Blake during the second period. Mark Stone’s high stick on Jalen Chatfield in the third period left Chatfield with blood flowing from a cut above his right eye, resulting in a double-minor penalty.
Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov found the net following both infractions, occurring during a postseason filled with questions about when he and fellow top-line player Sebastian Aho would find their rhythm.
“Anytime you give the other team’s best players the opportunity to be on the ice on the power play and feel good about themselves … you stack that up and it definitely can be challenging and tire guys out,” center Nic Dowd said afterward.
Svechnikov’s goals elevated the Hurricanes to 6 of 16 (37.5%) on power-play opportunities this series, a dramatic improvement from their 12.5% rate (7 of 56) during their 12-1 march through the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“One of the areas that we’ve lost a little bit is special teams, a couple of power-play goals last night,” Tortorella said Friday. “Like I said after the game, I thought at times we were killing, we had some good times as far as moving, being aggressive with our penalty kill, and are doing the job. Other times, not so good.”
Adding to Vegas’ concerns is Karlsson, who sat out nearly six months with a lower-body injury before making his playoff return at the start of the Anaheim series. He contributed three goals and six assists across 14 playoff contests to boost the Golden Knights, including scoring in Games 1 and 4 against Carolina.
Karlsson seemed to hurt his left arm or shoulder after being checked into the boards by Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker during the second period. He received brief medical treatment on the bench, left the ice, and didn’t return to action.
Tortorella indicated Thursday that Karlsson was “not going to be with us, probably” and Vegas required a team-wide effort to compensate for his absence. He provided no further updates Friday morning.
Despite the challenges, he has boldly predicted the series would “be back here” for a Game 7.
“We know what we have to do to beat this team,” McNabb said Thursday night. “It’s a matter of going home and winning one game. That’s all it is, and hopefully we’re back here for Game 7.”
