'Belief' the watchword for Knights heading into Game 4 Monday

SALT LAKE CITY — The goal is clear — win Game 4 Monday night at the Delta Center.

Accomplishing the goal? That won’t be easy.

Yes, the Vegas Golden Knights are only down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series of their opening round Stanley Cup Playoff with Utah. Win Monday and it becomes a best-of-three with the Knights regaining home-ice advantage. The NHL announced Saturday night that puck drop for Game 4 will be 7:30 p.m. local time, 6:30 Pacific. ESPN will televise.

Coach John Tortorella believes in his guys. He has made it abundantly clear on more than one occasion that he respects the talent in the locker room, what they’ve accomplished and what they’re capable of doing. He’s not going to beat them down, brow-beat them as he put it, but rather emphasize the positive, make sure they’re in the right frame of mind to play Monday and get back in the series.

The players appreciate the trust their coach has in them.

“It’s the group itself that feels the same way,” said defenseman Noah Hanifin. “We feel like we did a lot of good things (in Game 3) and we need to build on that going into Game 4.”

The team had dinner together Saturday night in nearby Park City to keep the unity thing going. Tortorella said it was good for everyone to be together and believe in each other going into such a critical moment.

Maybe if Tortorella was coaching a younger group that lacked playoff experience he could scare them into performing at a higher level. With these Knights, that’s definitely not necessary. They know what needs to be done. No need to threaten these guys.

So what do they need to do? What is their formula for success?

For starters, start fast but generate some goals in doing so. Get to Karel Vejmelka, who has been the best goaltender on the ice in this series. In the three games, he has allowed just seven goals in 83 shots for a 2.36 goals-against average and a save percentage of .916.  

As for Vegas’ goalie, Carter Hart has played fairly well the first three games though he has had a few let-down moments. In the three games, his numbers are a 3.10 GAA and an .878 save percentage.

At some point, you’re going to ask your goalie to steal a game in the playoffs. Monday might be an opportune time for Hart to do just that. Tortorella knows Hart and he’s confident whatever issues he may have had in Game 3 as Utah scored four times in just 12 shots won’t manifest themselves Monday in Game 4.

And then there’s the power play. Whatever tweaks Tortorella comes up with won’t matter if the Knights continue to hold the puck and not put extended pressure on the Mammoth’s penalty kill units and get pucks past Vejmelka.

It looks like Mitch Marner will come off the first unit as will Tomas Hertl. Shea Theodore and Ivan Barbashev were taking turns on the power play top unit.  

“I think we’ve lost the special teams battles and it’s probably why we’re at in the series,” Tortorella said. “We wanted to change something, get some balance in the two units. We’ll see where it goes.”

Tortorella has also switched things up with three of his four lines. Pavel Dorofeyev, the team’s leading goal scorer this season who has been held pointless in the series, was skating on the top line With Jack Eichel and Barbashev. He had been demoted to the fourth line in Game 3. Mark Stone and Marner were paired on a second line with Reilly Smith, Marner playing in the middle. Hertl is the third line center with Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar.

The only line that stayed intact was Nic Dowd, Cole Smith and Colton Sissons. There was a surprise appearance on the ice Sunday at practice as Braeden Bowman and Trevor Connolly skated after helping AHL Henderson win its first-round Calder Cup series over San Jose. The Silver Knights don’t play again until Friday when they host Colorado in the second round and GM Kelly McCrimmon thought it would be good for Tortorella to take a first-hand look at both players. But don’t look for either to crack the lineup.

Will any of the changes work? Marner was hopeful that the moves will pay off.

“I think it can be good to change the flow of things,” he said. “You just need to remember who you’re out there with and it’s kind of a quick reset.”

For Tortorella it’s about one thing at this point — belief.

“This isn’t X’s and O’s. We’ve made the adjustments,” Tortorella said. “When you’re down in a series and you’ve lost a couple in a row, it’s about belief. Belief in what you’re doing. How we prepare.

“This is mental. I’m very comfortable with this team. We can draw as much X and O stuff on the board as we want. But it comes down to belief and I think we have that in this room.”