RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Less than 12 hours after his team blew a two-goal lead and lost in overtime, coach John Tortorella has no issues with where his Vegas Golden Knights stand in the Stanley Cup Final against Carolina that is now all tied up at 1-1.
In true “Torts” fashion, he is not explaining why.
“I like our team, where we’re at,” Tortorella said Friday. “We’re good. We’re ready to play. I like a lot of things about what’s gone on in the first two games. I’m not giving you specifics.”
Tortorella and the Golden Knights return home for Game 3 against the Hurricanes on Saturday night with plenty of lessons to learn from. It’s the first time in NHL history that each of the first two games of a Cup final featured a team erasing a multigoal deficit to win.
Vegas trailed 2-0 in the opener and won 5-4, then led 2-0 on Thursday night until past the midway point of the third period. After Carolina scored three times in just over five minutes, it took captain Mark Stone tying it 6 on 5 with goaltender Carter Hart pulled for an extra skater to force overtime.
“We have pretty good control, and then some minor mistakes and it ends up in the back of the net,” center William Karlsson said. “Just kind of ride it out all game long and hopefully not give Carolina any chances to come back.”
Teammates credited the crowd in Raleigh for aiding the Hurricanes’ comeback, and with that came an appreciation to be playing the next two games at the arena on The Strip nicknamed the Fortress. The Golden Knights have only been in existence for nine years, but their home-ice advantage quickly became one of the best in the league.
“We feed off the crowd,” forward Keegan Kolesar said. “You can tell from (Game 2), once things started going their way, they’re playing a lot faster, a lot harder when their crowd is involved. Go back to even the COVID year, it makes you realize how important fans are because when they’re not in that building, it can be pretty miserable, so really excited to have that back in our building.”
The Knights are 6-2 at home during the playoffs. They are also 7-3 on the road.
Tortorella has preached consistency since taking over when Bruce Cassidy was fired in late March, and that applies to not changing much depending on where games take place.
“There’s no difference,” Tortorella said. “We’re going to play. We know how to play. We know how we want to play.”
Carolina went a perfect 6-0 on the road through the first three rounds, including the Eastern Conference Final at hockey-mad Montreal.
“I don’t think we really care, to be honest, where we play,” said Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, who has a 1.27 goals-against average and .931 save percentage away from home in the playoffs this spring. “We’re really just focused on our foundation in our game, and that’s really what sets us up for success.”
Lingering over Vegas is the potential absence of top-pairing defenseman Brayden McNabb, who took an 87.3 mph slap shot to the face 11 minutes into Game 2 and did not return. If McNabb is unable to play in Game 3, fellow left-handed shooter Ben Hutton or righty Kaedan Korczak are likely replacements.
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