Can Golden Knights overcome inconsistent goaltending?
The Vegas Golden Knights are locked in a tied 2-2 series with the Anaheim Ducks in the second round after the Ducks drew even with a 4-3 victory in Orange County on Sunday night.
Goaltending is important and highly determinative for every team in the playoffs, but especially so for the Golden Knights and 27-year-old Carter Hart.
Hart, who had been out of the league since the 2023-24 season due to a suspension while on trial for sexual assault, joined the Golden Knights midway through this season on a two-year contract after he was found not guilty by the Ontario Supreme Court in July.
His .891 save percentage in 18 regular season starts, combined with the familiarity he has with new head coach John Tortorella from their time with the Flyers, was enough to earn him the starting job for the playoffs.
The Alberta native was excellent from the end of the Utah series through the start of the Anaheim matchup, but he faltered early against the Mammoth and left plenty to be desired on Sunday.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL video coach Steve Peters discussed whether or not the Golden Knights have enough in the tank to survive the lows of Hart’s game over the course of a long playoff run.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I like that you brought up Carter Hart, because last night was far from his best game. I don’t want to call him inconsistent, because the stretches have been good, but it’s been a bit of a roller coaster. You go back to that first round against Utah. He finished off that series with three straight games of a sub-.900. Then he kicks off this series… it was four straight games for him where he was above a .900. in fact he was above a .926 in four straight games. Last night he took a step back, so like inconsistent maybe not the right word, but it’s a bit of a roller coaster where he dips down for a couple games and then he shoots up and he’s really good for three or four… If there’s a reason for me to be concerned as a Golden Knights fan, you still have home-ice advantage, all of that stuff. My concern would be: Are we getting to a little dip here for Carter Hart? Are they going to be able to survive if he’s going to be an .850-.870 goalie for the next couple of games? Can they overcome poor goaltending? I’m not sure if they can in this high-paced matchup.
Steve Peters: I don’t think they can. We talk about teams outscoring you. Anaheim can do that. Colorado can do that. If you’re going to make it all the way to the finals, you need to be tight in your own zone and especially in front of your blue paint. I don’t think this Vegas Golden Knights team, and again, this is not any affront to the roster they’ve put together, they don’t defend as well as the team that won the Stanley Cup in Vegas. They’re not as strong in their back six… I think that’s part of it, and Adin Hill, when he won the Stanley Cup, he was the third goaltender, No. 3 going into the playoffs, and he emerged as the star of that team winning a Cup. Could we still see Adin Hill? Absolutely. And the one thing that Carter Hart has to be able to do for Vegas to win is he can’t let in the one bad goal.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…