Hart ‘ready to go’ as Tortorella stands by Golden Knights goalie for Game 6

SUMMERLIN, Nev. – The fours line up, nice and neat, in a uniform column.

June 2, Game 1: Goals against, 4.

June 4, Game 2: Goals against, 4.

June 6, Game 3: Goals against, 4.

June 9, Game 4: Goals against, 4.

June 11, Game 5: Goals against, 4.

Carter Hart has started every game of the Stanley Cup Final, played every minute for the Vegas Golden Knights and for coach John Tortorella. He has also allowed four goals against in each of those starts, three of them wins for the Carolina Hurricanes, becoming the first goalie in NHL history to allow at least four goals in each game in five straight games of a Cup Final series.

And though the Golden Knights are certainly still in this Final, down 3-2 in the best-of-7 series with Game 6 approaching at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC), Vegas is also facing elimination and the end of its season.

“They’ve gotten some lucky bounces, and there’s a few plays that I’ve got to make some more saves, but at the end of the day, just I prepare the same way, like just any other game and I’ll be ready to go,” Hart said.

Tortorella has been adamant that Hart is his goalie, that he has not considered another option. That came to a head after Game 5, when he was asked whether he thought about inserting backup Adin Hill into the third period, saying, “Christ, that could be the stupidest question I’ve heard.”

Which is to say that he’s backing Hart.

“He’s ready to go,” Tortorella said on Saturday.

Asked if that decision is made any more complicated by the presence of a Stanley Cup-winning goalie – Hill was in net when the Golden Knights won in 2023, though he has not played since April 9 and went 10-9-6 this season with a 3.04 goals-against average and an .871 save percentage – Tortorella said, “No.”

So what fuels that confidence?

“Because I know him, I know there’s a better game in him,” Tortorella said. “I’ve seen it throughout the playoffs. I think he’s a very good goalie. We’ve got to do a better job around him too. You can look at the numbers – and you guys, that’s what you do, you spit out those numbers – but I’ve got to look at things differently and watch what the play is going on around him and what type of goals are being scored.”

Tortorella is more familiar with Hart and his game than he is with most of the Golden Knights, who he’s only coached for eight regular-season and 21 playoff games. The pair were together with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

“Obviously Torts and I go back from our Philly days and have a good relationship,” Hart said. “But I haven’t been at my best this series and I’ll be better next game and ready to go.”

This has also been the most hockey Hart has played in quite some time.

The goalie did not play in the NHL for nearly two years after being one of five players on Canada’s 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship gold-medal team that was accused of committing sexual assault in June of 2018. All five of the players were found not guilty in July of 2025, with the NHL deciding each would be eligible to return to the League on Dec. 1.

The Golden Knights signed Hart to a two-year, $4 million contract on Oct. 24. He played his first game since the 2023-24 season on Dec. 2, and went 11-3-3 in 18 starts with a 2.71 goals-against average and an .891 save percentage. He has played in 21 games in the playoffs, with a 2.59 GAA and a .909 save percentage.

“I feel good,” Hart said. “I’ve got a pretty regimented routine, just taking care of the body and kept it the same. As a goaltender, you want to play every game and you want to be ready to go. So I’ve got a routine that I do and I follow, I’ve followed it throughout my whole career and I feel good.”

Hart did not practice with the rest of the Golden Knights at City National Arena on Saturday, instead opting to work one-on-one with goalie coach Sean Burke on an alternate sheet of ice.

“Just some maintenance stuff,” Hart said. “There’s been not a lot of time between games, so I think just to go out there and work on a few things and just be prepared and ready to go for the next game.”

And though Hart has clearly not been at his best, he isn’t entirely alone in the goals against.

“We could do a better job helping him out no doubt, for sure,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “With goalies, as a player you’re always evaluating what you could do and you’re very rarely putting it on the goalie in my eyes. As a player you can always do something to make the goal not happen.

“We can be better around him, in front of our net, whatever it may be, but we have all the confidence in the world in ‘Hartsy.’ He’s been great for us. He’s the reason why we’re here.”

That was a theme echoed in the room, that the team’s defense has to improve in front of Hart. That is even more true when Jordan Staal is on the ice, with Staal having scored six goals in five games in the Final after having scored two in 13 games in the first three rounds.

But, like Tortorella, the Golden Knights are keeping their faith in Hart, that he can be better, that he can lead them to a Game 7. That he is the right goalie for the job.

And if he needs any help in figuring out how to approach an elimination game, any thoughts on what to do or how to handle it, there’s a locker not far away that holds a goalie that has lifted the Stanley Cup.

“I’m here if he needs me,” Hill said. “So if Carter wants to talk, I’m here, and other than that, you kind of let the guy do his own thing. He’s in his own zone right now, and just let him do his own thing.

“If he wants any advice, I’m more than happy to help. I’ve told him anything he needs, he can come to me.”