Friday Four: How Tortorella has taken Vegas to another level

This isn’t John Tortorella’s first rodeo.  

There have been many times when Tortorella-coached teams weren’t given much of a chance against a supposedly far-superior opponent. That was never more true than in the 2019 post-season, when Tortorella’s Columbus Blue Jackets faced the juggernaut Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.

It was supposed to be Tampa’s time. The Lightning won the Presidents’ Trophy with 128 points and a plus-103 goal differential. They were in a class of their own, but the Blue Jackets didn’t just beat them; they dismantled the Lightning. Columbus took Tampa’s best punch and didn’t flinch, won a pair of blowout games and swept them out of the playoffs. 

That’s why maybe we shouldn’t be that shocked that the Colorado Avalanche met the same fate as the Lightning did. The two series were eerily similar, and if nothing else, Tortorella’s teams never back down from a challenge.

This Vegas Golden Knights squad is much different than those Blue Jackets, though. They are not a plucky upstart bunch trying to make a name for themselves. Vegas has high-end talent and a team full of Cup winners, which is why it was so surprising to see it in a position where it decided to make a coaching change on the eve of the playoffs.  

General manager Kelly McCrimmon felt Tortorella was the best person to push the right buttons for this team and get it back to the level we’re accustomed to. So far, it looks like a brilliant decision, as Tortorella is elevating the Golden Knights in a multitude of ways.

Using the penalty kill as a weapon 

Vegas had a good penalty kill this season, ranking seventh in the NHL at 81.4 per cent, but it's taken things to another level in the post-season. 

The Golden Knights have upped their percentage to 87.5 and rank second behind only Carolina in the post-season among teams that have played 10 games. Not only has the penalty-kill improved, but it’s actually becoming a weapon that Vegas is utilizing to impact the scoreline.  

Vegas ranked in the bottom third of the league this season with only six short-handed goals, but in the playoffs, it is already up to four thanks to a more aggressive penalty kill. The Golden Knights boast two short-handed units that can turn defence into offence in an instant, with Mitch Marner and Brett Howden on one group and Jack Eichel and William Karlsson on the other. Marner and Howden have been particularly dangerous a man down, with Howden having three short-handed goals and Marner having four points, both leading the playoffs respectively in those categories.  

Vegas has also allowed only five goals on the penalty kill, so when factoring in the four short-handed tallies they've scored, the Golden Knights are sitting at only a minus-one while a man down in these playoffs. It’s hard to get much better than that.  

Block party 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a superstar or a fourth-liner; if you’re going to play for Tortorella, you have to be willing to sacrifice your body.  

Tortorella’s teams are notorious for their shot blocking, and you don’t have to look too far back through his past stops to find evidence of that. Over his past three seasons in charge of the Philadelphia Flyers, Tortorella’s teams finished no worse than second in the NHL in blocked shots, and Philly ranked first in 2024-25. He’s now taken his tactics to Vegas and, in a short time, improved the team in that area.  

During the regular season, Vegas ranked 20^th in blocked shots with an average of 15.6 per game. In the post-season, though, the Golden Knights are up to 18.5 per contest, blocking almost three more shots per game. That really was a big part of their success against the Avalanche, as Vegas blocked 75 shots in that series alone and made it nearly impossible for Colorado to get pucks through to the net at times.

It’s helping reduce Carter Hart’s workload, which is another huge part of what Tortorella has brought to the table in Vegas.  

Making life easy on the goaltender 

Let’s face it, there’s a decent chance Bruce Cassidy never would’ve been fired this season if Vegas just got league-average goaltending. Their five-on-five numbers were fairly strong, but the Golden Knights finished 28th in team save percentage and Adin Hill really struggled, to the tune of an .871 save percentage. That was a massive drop off from his career average.  

Hart wasn’t much better. He sported an .891 SP this season but almost instantly took off after Tortorella took over. He closed the season with a 6-0-0 run and a .930 save percentage and hasn’t slowed down throughout the playoffs. Since Game 6 of Round 1 against Utah, Hart has given up two goals or fewer in all but two games and has 7.7 goals saved above expected overall.  

What made Vegas’ struggles between the pipes this season so peculiar was the fact that they were actually one of the best teams at limiting quality scoring chances. It gave up the second fewest all year, and it gave up the second fewest shots per game this season, too. Keep in mind that’s an 82-game sample size that includes some weak opponents.  

However, in the playoffs, Tortorella was challenged with three really strong offensive teams, especially the Avalanche, who finished first in goals in 2025-26. Vegas, though, has managed to continue limiting high-danger looks this spring, despite allowing about five more shots per game in the post-season than it did in the regular season. It's still giving up just 8.5 high-danger chances per outing, even with the extra shots. That’s meant more easy saves for Hart, as the Golden Knights' bend-but-not-break structure is paying dividends.  

Getting their swagger back 

One of the reasons people were so down on the Golden Knights heading into the post-season was because their swagger was gone. There was always an aura of invincibility around Vegas, and deep playoff runs were just assumed. But a mediocre season that may have seen them miss out on the playoffs if they weren’t in the Pacific Division, led many to believe Vegas would be vulnerable to an early exit.  

Tortorella’s brashness changed all that. He immediately started doing what Tortorella does, standing up for his team and making defiant proclamations. When his team dropped Games 2 and 3 to the Mammoth after a couple of lacklustre performances, Tortorella declared on the morning of Game 4 “we’ll be ready to play.” The Golden Knights proceeded to reel off three straight wins and take the series.  

When Vegas took a surprising 2-0 lead against the Avalanche, Tortorella was adamant his team wouldn’t get complacent. “We won’t,” he said. “I guarantee it. We won’t.” It looked like that was going to prove false when the Avs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period of Game 3, but Vegas scored five straight goals to take a commanding lead in the series.  

Tortorella was prepared for that exact moment of adversity, too. In that aforementioned upset of the Lightning while with the Blue Jackets, Tortorella’s team fell behind 3-0 in the first period in Game 1 of that series. Columbus rallied with four straight goals to stun Tampa, and it never looked back.  

I’m not sure Vegas planned on Tortorella’s stay lasting longer than a few months, but he’s certainly giving them something to think about and is on the cusp of becoming only the fourth coach ever to win a Stanley Cup with two different teams. Tortorella fits this team’s personality like a glove. He’s unapologetic, does things his own way and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.