Shea Theodore scored late in overtime to lift Vegas to a 5-4 win at Delta Center in Game 4 and knot up the First Round, 2-2, as the series shifts back to home ice for the Golden Knights. Here's what some of the players and Head Coach John Tortorella had to say following the thrilling win.
John Tortorella on the bench staying levelheaded throughout…
Momentum swung to their side, but we hung in there...That’s one of the things I really respect about this team. They have experience with this, and that’s where we try to get out of the way. But we’re not getting too high. Sooner or later, the way this game is played now, it’s not going to be an easy game. But our guys just stayed with it and found a way.
Mitch Marner on the sticktoitiveness after the called-back goal to get the overtime winner…
You just sit down there, reset, have a lot of faith in your team and confidence that you can go out there and try to do it again. Obviously, the crowd got real loud there in that moment. Just tried to make sure on our next couple of shifts we went out and did the same thing that we did before. I thought we did a good job of doing that, hemmed them in for a couple times there, and a big goal by Shea [Theodore].
Cole Smith on the ups and downs of playoff hockey…
It’s playoff hockey, there’s going to be huge ebbs and flows, especially in an away environment. The message was just to stick together and keep playing our game. We played a really good game for most of the night. So, we stuck with it, everybody stuck together, and we got it done.
Shea Theodore on the feeling of lifting Vegas to the win…
It was great. Especially close to the end of the first overtime, you don’t really want to go to a second. It’s just a good feeling. It sucks having that one called back, but I feel like we kept our foot on the gas. And I think scoring an OT winner is pretty special.
Brett Howden on his two-goal performance…
The first play by Mitch was an incredible play. For him to read where the puck was going, get a good stick on it and then a no-look pass to me. I played with him a little bit this year and getting used to him, he can see everyone at all times. He knows where everyone is on the ice. He made a great play to me in front, and I just put it in the net. On the next one, [Noah Hanifin] did a good job of shooting the puck. Getting pucks to the net, trying to take [Vejmelka’s] eyes away. Nice to get that one.
