Knights hoping history will repeat itself

LAS VEGAS — Remember what happened in 2023 to the Vegas Golden Knights?

Adin Hill took over for Laurent Brossoit in goal and the Knights rode Hill all the way to the Stanley Cup. It resulted in a long-term deal for Hill.

Three years later, are we about to watch history repeat itself?

Not with Hill. With Carter Hart.

The Knights rode Hart to the Pacific Division title after being in a danger of missing the playoffs while he convalesced following a lower body injury in December which shelved him for more than three months. Now, with the postseason beginning Sunday at T-Mobile Arena against Utah, Hart will be asked to backstop Vegas on another long Cup run.

Can he do it?

He’s won six straight since returning to the ice April 2. He has a 1.67 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage during that stretch. The two wins that stand out came at Edmonton when he posted 32 saves in a 5-1 victory and April 11 at Colorado when he made 30 saves in the Knights’ 3-2 overtime win over the Avalanche.

Hart looks more comfortable with each game he plays. He’s communicating better with his teammates. He’s moving well, reading the play and making the big save when needed. Those are the components a goaltender needs to possess in order to lead his team to a Stanley Cup.

“I feel solid,” Hart said Saturday. “I think it’s a reflection of how we’re playing as a team. We’re playing really good right now. We’re playing hard. We’re playing fast. Guys are battling, working extremely hard.

“It’s just been a lot of fun. I feel we’ve been building something. I hope we can continue to build on that in the playoffs.”

And, as I wrote the other night, there’s a trust factor between Hart and his coach, John Tortorella. They were together in Philadelphia and Torts knew what he had with Hart on his roster. And as long as the goaltender’s form was so off-kilter that he couldn’t play him, Tortorella was going to go with the commodity he knew rather than Hill or Akira Schmid, neither of which he knew as well as he does Hart.

“I watched his growth from when I had him in Philly and the biggest thing is his preparation and his attention to detail in how he prepares,” Tortorella said of the change in Hart’s play. “He leaves no stone unturned.

“I think he’s matured mentally. He’s found his way after his injuries and his time away.”

The Mammoth have not seen Hart. And while Utah went 2-1 against Vegas this season, the two wins came against Carl Lindbom, a 5-1 twin at the Delta Center on Nov. 24 and a combination of Hill and Schmid in a 4-0 shutout win on March 19. Schmid was in goal Nov. 20 when the Knights won 4-1.

Now, with the stakes considerably higher, the Mammoth, who will likely start Karel Vejmelka in Game 1 Sunday night, is a known commodity to the Golden Knights. Vejmelka was in goal for all three games against the Knights this year.

As for those who will skate in front of Hart, Tortorella appears to be loading up his No. 1 line, reinstating Mitch Marner on the wing to skate with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. The trio were together for a time in the second period in Wednesday’s 4-1 season finale win over Seattle and were skating as a line during practice Friday at City National Arena. Combined, they have 79 goals and 164 assists this season with Stone scoring 28 goals and Eichel with a team-best 63 assists. Marner has 80 points this year (24 goals, 56 assists).

“We just want to make sure we’re smart with the puck and with our decisions,” Marner said of playing with Stone and Eichel. “We’re just focused on playing our game, doing the right things and have teams decide what they want to do against us.”  

Tortorella said of an Eichel-Marner-Stone line: “They’re three really good players. Not sure if it works. I’d like to see it work.”

It moves Ivan Barbashev (23 goals, 61 points) to the second line with leading goal scorer Pavel Dorofeyev (37 goals) and Brett Howden as the center. The third line will be Reilly Smith and Keegan Kolesar skating with a struggling Tomas Hertl, who last scored a goal back on March 4.

As for William Karlsson, he’s not quite ready to return according to general manager Kelly McCrimmon, who addressed the veteran center’s status at his Friday media session.

With the playoffs starting, it changes Tortorella’s role. He has leaned heavily on the coaching staff he inherited when he took over for Bruce Casidy last month. That means Dominic Ducharme and Joel Ward running the offense along with the power play and John Stevens handling the defense and the penalty kill. Tortorella has been more like a psychologist and motivator. But look for him to be far more active now that he is familiar with what his players are capable of doing. Plus, when you face the same team in as many as seven games, you’re going to be required to make adjustments along the way and matchups matter.

“I just want us to play the right way,” Tortorella said. “I’m not worried about anything but us.

“This is a really good team. I can say now that I’m with them and I say that very respectfully.”  

The Mammoth have some very good players, starting with center Clayton Keller, along with Dylan Guenther, who led Utah with 40 goals, Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz, who is a Selke Trophy candidate for top defensive forward.

Utah also has a veteran defense that has several familiar names. Mikhail Sergachev, who won two Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay, has 10 goals and 59 points, Ian Cole, who won two Cups in Pittsburgh along with former Golden Knight Nate Schmidt, who was a member of the Florida Panthers’ Cup championship team a year ago, provide the Mammoth with a winning pedigree.

Statistically, these teams are evenly matched, both in traditional numbers along with analytic figures. In the end, it’s likely to come down to who plays better in goal.

Given what Hart is doing and the Mammoth’s lack of familiarity with him in his current form, plus the Knights having home-ice advantage which gives Tortorella the last change when matching lineups, it may be enough for Vegas to advance in what figures to be a long series that goes six games or possibly the full distance.

“It’s an exciting time of the year,” Stone said. “You have 16 teams all chasing the same thing. I know the guys here are very excited.”