To Barbashev’s point: Even after the optional practice Vegas had at City Bank Arena on Saturday, there was a quiet swagger in the dressing room as the Golden Knights met with the media. With 12 players on the roster having been part of the championship Vegas squad that celebrated that historic Cup win on June 13, 2023, there is no evidence of nerves, of pressure, of the moment being too big for them.
“It’s simple: go win a game,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “It’s exciting. It’s fun.
“Win a game, and go to Carolina for Game 7.”
McNabb, fellow defenseman Shea Theodore, forward Reilly Smith and forward William Karlsson were members of the original 2017 expansion Golden Knights and have seen both sides of these elimination games, having lost in the 2018 Final to the Washington Capitals before winning the title against the Florida Panthers five years later.
Unfortunately, Karlsson will be unavailable for Game 6, and likely for the remainder of the Final should it go to Game 7, after favoring his left arm/wrist on Thursday, an ailment that knocked him out midway through the second period of Game 5. His absence means coach John Tortorella will have to mix up his lines, including the possibility of shifting Mitch Marner to center.
Marner played there for much of the season when Karlsson was out with a lower-body injury. When Karlsson returned to action, he centered a line with Marner and Brett Howden that at times has been Vegas’s best this postseason.
“It obviously (stinks) losing Will but it’s a next-man up mentality,” Marner said. “So we’ve just got to be ready to go. It’s obviously a tough hole to fill in a way but at the same time everyone on the ice has to do a better job defensive-wise helping out and making sure we take advantage of offensive chances.”
Whether it’s Smith or Brandon Saad who replaces Karlsson in the lineup, it’s not going to matter if the Golden Knights don’t improve their goals against.
