You win one, they adjust. They win one, you adjust. Playoff hockey is about so many things. Energy, desperation, coaching, talent, execution and luck.
The Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth find themselves locked at one game apiece in their best-of-seven series with Game 3 shifting from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. Game 3 is set for Friday and Game 4 goes Monday at the Delta Center.
Vegas earned a Game 1 win at home with a physically dominant performance. Flashes of speed and quick strike offense allowed the Mammoth to tie up the series and earn a split on the road.
Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella kept his team off the ice on Wednesday.
“Yeah, we have to look at some things after last night’s game. It’s really weird having two days. So, I think it’s good to get the guys out of the building for a day, and then we’ll bring them back in and go back to work (Thursday),” said Tortorella. “I think we need to look at a lot of things all over the place. That’s what today’s about with the coaches. We’re looking at the tape—have some good minutes, have some bad minutes—just always trying to get better.”
Vegas has scored six goals in the series with Ivan Barbashev and Mark Stone picking up a pair each. Nic Dowd and Colton Sissons both have a goal in the series.
Tortorella was asked about getting other players going, particularly at five-on-five.
“We’re not just looking at one guy, we’re looking at the whole team. When you play a series, there’s ebbs and flows,” he said. "You feel good about things at certain times and other things you need to work on. So, it’s not just one particular person. It’s just our team concept, trying to be more consistent with our team concept.”
With two days off between games, Tortorella and his staff have lots of time to look at video of the series. But the coach said they need to be cautions regarding how much information they give to the players.
“Coaches have to be really careful. That’s why I didn’t want them around here, the players, because then you’re finding them somewhere or they’re eating breakfast and you’re talking about something,” said the coach with a Stanley Cup and Olympic gold medal on his resume. “It’s a lot. It’s an intense time of year. They’ve had a long year. So when you can get them out of the rink in these types of situations, especially when you’re thinking about playing for a couple more months, you’ve got to find some time to get them rest. Not so much physically, but mentally. They’ll be fresher for it.”
Tortorella left the rink Tuesday night thinking one thing but by noon on Wednesday he was of a different opinion.
“After I watched the tape, I’m not so sure. It’s funny what happens sometimes as a coach. I walked in here this morning—well, I haven’t slept—I walked in, and when you turn the tape on, you hope that it’s better than you thought. Last night, I thought the first period was good. But it went the other way with me this morning. It kind of blew up my morning a little bit when I started it. And I said, man, it wasn’t as good as I thought it was,” he said. “So yeah, we’ve got some work to do. And it’s going to be like that all through the games here. As each game goes by, you feel good about stuff, and other stuff you just say, man, we’ve got to fix that. So that’s our job."
