He believes coaching depends on the type of team you have. With a younger side, Golden Knights coach John Tortorella might have to act differently. But, he says, he’s lucky to have this current group.
That when difficult situations arise, they can calm themselves down and stay positive.
Well, it wasn’t an easy situation Wednesday night in front of 18,033 at T-Mobile Arena.
But in the end, all the positive feelings went toward the Knights, who outlasted Utah 5-4 in double overtime via a Brett Howden short-handed game-winning goal.
It means the Knights hold a 3-2 advantage in the best-of-seven series.
“There are tough times during periods, tough swings of emotions,” Tortorella said. “For us, that’s pretty much taken care of by the guys on the bench. It’s a good group that way.
“When it’s getting a little too high or low, everyone just kind of checks one another and makes sure we’re staying on that plane and just getting ready for the next shift.”
Back in Utah
It’s what allowed them to win Game 4 in overtime after blowing a 3-1 lead. What allowed them to win a Pacific Division title and gain home-ice advantage over the first two rounds of the playoffs (assuming things last that long).
Game 6 is on Friday back in Utah. And don’t doubt for a second Mammoth fans won’t be psyched and ready to counter the energy and noise coming from T-Mobile Arena in this one.
Much of it directed at forward Pavel Dorofeyev.
The team’s leading scorer in the regular season had a hat trick Wednesday, his final score coming with 52.7 seconds remaining in regulation to tie things at 4-4 and force overtime for a second straight game in the series.
Dorofeyev was benched for most of the third period in Game 4. Sure made up for it in this one.
“That was a huge game for him,” center Jack Eichel said. “He’s a huge part of our team and it was awesome to see him find the back of the net. He’s been playing pretty well and it’s great to see him get rewarded.”
It began as you might expect, with each team accounting for seven shots on goal throughout the first period.
Nobody taking control with so much at stake.
Nobody wanting to make that glaring mistake.
But if anything separated the two, it was the penalty kill for the Knights. The Knights killed off all of a double minor assessed to Cole Smith and then Howden scored his short-handed goal to win it.
“It really came up big for us tonight,” Tortorella said. “Utah is a skilled team with a very dangerous power play. I think we’ve done a great job against it as the series goes on.”
Utah would tie things at 3-3 when the Mammoth off a faceoff would get loose through the neutral zone and score via a 2-on-1 when Dylan Guenther beat Knights goalie Carter Hart.
Speed kills, no? And the Mammoth have a ton of it.
You saw that not a few minutes later, when an Eichel turnover turned into another 2-on-1 for Utah that ended with Michael Carcone shooting it past Hart for a 4-3 lead.
Know this, however: The Knights don’t win this game without Hart, who was a big part of those penalty kills. Made big save after big save.
The blue paint
But it would be Dorofeyev who would clinch his hat trick and tie things up to force the extra time.
It would be him who brought the roof down … before Howden did so again in double overtime.
“You just watch all the games and everything in the (blue paint) and around that net, so many things are happening,” Tortorella said. “It’s a big part of playoff hockey — protecting your blue and getting to the other blue. We have to continue to get there. The puck seems to find (Dorofeyev) when he’s on his game.”
It did often on Wednesday and things worked out well for the Knights because of it.
One more win, and it’s on to the next round.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
