Sam Gordon: Knights coach doubles down on Carter Hart, for better or worse

Sam Gordon, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Jun 13, 2026

Published in Hockey

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LAS VEGAS — Two nights of shuteye, that is … if he slept, didn’t change the mind of Vegas Golden Knights coach John Tortorella, who bristled at a question on Thursday night about switching goalies in the Stanley Cup. Whether Vegas extends the series against the Carolina Hurricanes will be influenced on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena by Carter Hart.

No matter his struggles through the first five games while a Stanley Cup champion sits on the bench.

“I know there’s a better game in him,” Tortorella said on Saturday morning, seated before a gaggle of reporters assembled at City National Arena. “I’ve seen it throughout the playoffs. Yeah, I think he’s a very good goalie. We’ve got to do a better job around him, too.”

Never mind that Hart now bears the dubious and unenviable distinction of being the only goalie in the NHL history to surrender four goals in five straight games to open the final. Hart, the 27-year-old Canadian whom Tortorella coached with the Philadelphia Flyers, will have the chance to rectify his struggles in Game 6 down 3-2.

For better or worse.

Hart throughout the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs saved 92.2% of the shots he faced, proof of concept for Tortorella’s confidence compared to 85.6% against Carolina. Asked if backup goalie Adin Hill’s championship experience — as one of the heroes for Vegas in 2023 en route to its first-ever Stanley Cup, boasting a 2.17 goals-against average throughout those playoffs — made it more difficult to stick with Hart, Tortorella kept it short and sweet.

“No.”

Hart didn’t skate with his teammates on the main rink on Saturday at City National Arena, opting instead for a solo skate on the secondary rink, plus treatment, too. He emerged to conduct a news conference, his first since Stanley Cup media day, and owned the role his subpar showing has played in his team’s 3-2 deficit.

“I haven’t been at my best this series, and I’ll be better next game,” Hart said, dressed in a gold Golden Knights tee shirt with a gray backwards cap atop his head. With teammate Mitch Marner seated beside him — and after addressing the chants with which he was doused by Carolina faithful in reference to his checkered past — Hart said the Hurricanes “have got some lucky bounces and there’s a few that I’ve got to make some more saves. But at the end of the day, I prepare the same way like just any other game and I’ll be ready to go.”

Vegas blueliner Brayden McNabb agreed with Tortorella’s assessment: the Golden Knights can better defend the Hurricanes to ease the burden Hart figures to face. Tortorella doesn’t delve into specifics about strategy this time of year, but McNabb offered insight from a locker room rallied together around its goalie.

“We could do a better job helping (Hart), for sure,” McNabb told reporters, later touting an understanding of Tortorella’s steadfast, unwavering support of Hart.

“Very rarely, you’re putting it on the goal, in my eyes,” McNabb explained. “As a player you could always do something to make a goal not happen. We need to be better around him, in front of the net, whatever it may be. But we have all the confidence in the world in our team. He’s been great for us. He’s the reason why we’re here.”

True indeed, but also true: If Hart doesn’t play better on Sunday night, he’ll be one of the reasons they won’t return to Raleigh, N.C., this week for Game 7 — while the Stanley Cup will.

“You can look at the numbers,” Tortorella said in a gold team hoodie, peering at the press corps through his glasses. “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 them and what type of goals are being scored.”

Won’t much matter without a win.