John Tortorella is showing trust in veteran Golden Knights
A lot has been made of the impact John Tortorella has had on the Vegas Golden Knights since taking over as their head coach in late March, but it also has to be a luxury for Tortorella to coach such a veteran-laden, championship-experienced team. After having most recently coached a young, raw Philadelphia Flyers team, having the likes of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Mitch Marner at his disposal must make it feel as though he’s coaching on easy mode.
Tortorella’s trust of his veteran squad was on full display late in Saturday’s Game 3. After the Carolina Hurricanes tied the game at 4-4 with under two minutes left in the third period, Tortorella opted not to take a timeout and instead trusted his team to maintain their composure after blowing a 4-0 lead. His team rewarded him, as the Golden Knights kept their poise and ultimately won with Shea Theodore’s goal in double overtime.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Steve Peters discussed the faith Tortorella is able to place in the Golden Knights’ veteran roster.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I thought it was interesting that (Tortorella) just kind of trusted that his vets could get it back, and to their credit, once it got to 4-4 Vegas played pretty well. They found their game pretty quick.
Steve Peters: You look at how they defended in overtime, they were exceptional. I thought they had the better of scoring chances in the first overtime. I had the opportunity to talk to Tortorella, a former member of the Arizona Coyotes’ staff when I first started in the league, and he has just got this calm confidence right now in this group. This is not a group that he is going to yell at or he needs to motivate. It’s just give them confidence and let them play. The marriage between players and coach right now on the Vegas Golden Knights is something I haven’t seen in the playoffs in a long time. He’s just letting them play. I was surprised that they didn’t call a timeout, but when you talk about his calm demeanor after the fact, you go “I get it. It’s up to you guys, just go do it.”
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Monday’s episode here…