Lawless: Keep The Faith

John Tortorella's dirty laundry. A Vegas Golden Knights two-game win streak. Jack Eichel busting through. Mark Stone having a Mark Stone moment. A legend in the making. The Vegas faithful lifting their heroes to new heights and a victory.

Pick one of these possibilities to provide hope and hold it close. Now is not the time to lose faith. Sure, losing would be heartbreaking. Quitting, however, well, it just wouldn't be very Vegas.

The Golden Knights are a unique professional sports franchise. Sure, Bill Foley owns the team, and his employees run it, and his players do the skating and scoring.

But Foley didn't walk into the desert alone nine years ago, he brought you with him. The reputation of Vegas was on the line when the puck first dropped. A flop and Vegas would likely return to being a town without a team.

A success, however, and who knew what might happen?

So, the good people of Vegas bought tickets. And jerseys and hats and luxury suites. They came to games and practices, watched on TV and listened on the radio. They named children and dogs after players. They raged when the team traded their favorite players. They cried, sang and danced when the Stanley Cup was won and paraded down Las Vegas Boulevard in 2023.

Vegas believed and so many good things have happened.

Now, the possibility of a great thing sits before us. An opportunity.

Lose a game and it's over. Can’t avoid that fact. But win two in a row and you are champions again.

First things first, however, which brings us to Game 6 on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.

A lot of people need to step up. Coaches and players and management need to do their thing. And you need to do yours.

Foley might own the bones, and management might choose the muscle, but the blood running through this organization is yours. It's the VEGAS Golden Knights and the people who live in this crazy town are what make the Golden Knights a team. You're the reason the Golden Knights are Vegas Born.

I was lucky enough to join the organization before the team had been chosen and have witnessed every turn of the page in this true romance. I have heard your stories at the grocery store. Watched you put your hope and hearts on the line for this team.

The Golden Knights have always needed you and they always will. The situation is dire. The team trails the Carolina Hurricanes three games to two in the Stanley Cup Final. A Carolina win on Sunday and they lift the Cup on the ice of your rink. A Vegas win and we go back to Raleigh for a Game 7.

Your players are invested. They are also human and as such have glorious characteristics and talents and flaws.

This won't be easy. The opponent is legit. But until there is darkness, there is light.

Tortorella stated late Thursday night that he would be packing light for the trip back to Vegas because he would need something to wear when he came back to Raleigh for Game 7.

"We'll be back here," he said. "We're just going to do it in a different order. I'm gonna leave my clothes here, that's for sure. They'll be in the hotel."

Writing this column at 30,000 feet en route back to Vegas, somewhere in the back of my head the lyrics of a song were knocking at the door. 

Then, flying over Billings, Montana, the thought burst through and a verse from Jackson Browne's "The Loadout" posed the question and provided the answer we all want.

People you've got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait
Or you can pull us through
Come along, sing this song
You know that you can't go wrong
'Cause when that morning sun comes beating down
You're gonna wake up in your town
But we'll be scheduled to appear
A thousand miles away from here

There it is. Get your team to Game 7. Give them all you have and get them over the top. Schedule them to appear one more time.