VEGAS — John Tortorella isn’t interested in tipping his hand on whether Brayden McNabb will be available for Game 3 Saturday night.
“No update,” was all the coach would offer up in his morning media availability.
McNabb took an 87-m.p.h. slapshot from Nik Ehlers to the nose in the first period of Game 2 and left immediately for repairs.
It was a scary moment that left the Golden Knights with five defencemen the rest of the game, prompting Shea Theodore to log more than 28 minutes of ice time.
McNabb, 35, is a rugged, minute-muncher on the top pairing who holds the Golden Knights’ iron-man streak.
If McNabb isn’t able to play, right-shot defender Kaedan Korczak would be the obvious addition to the lineup, and Dylan Coghlan would likely move up to the top pairing with Shea Theodore.
“We feel very comfortable with our D,” said the coach.
“(Coghlan) has come in, Hutty (Ben Hutton) has given us some good minutes, (Korczak) has come in. You get to the fourth round, you’ve got to tap into that, so we're very comfortable where we're at.”
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Tarps off on the strip?
A lot has been made about how the Hurricanes’ late comeback in Game 2 coincided with Jumbotron instructions for the gents in the crowd at Lenovo Center to go tarps off.
Many rabid fans obliged.
If the game night folks at T-Mobile Arena decide to respond by making a similar request to their fans, we wondered if things might get a little out of hand on a Saturday night in Vegas.
“Yeah, probably,” laughed Coghlan.
“The two cities are a little bit different as far as entertainment goes. But yeah, it would be fun to see.”
You thought Raleigh was loud…
With all due respect to the fans in Raleigh, and how loud and electric the crowd was there for the first two games, you can expect the noise and fervour in Vegas to go to 11.
It’s something Freddy Andersen spoke openly about feeding off of during the series in Montreal, where the crowd is also among the league's loudest.
“It’s probably the opposite of pumping yourself up — I think it’s just resting in it,” said the Carolina netminder of dealing with the ramped-up playoff atmosphere.
“The louder it gets, the more quiet you get in your own little bubble, and then you just focus on what you try to do to execute.
“It’s a special time of year, and it’s a really cool opportunity and experience we all get to have. If we weren’t enjoying it as well, it would be a big shame."
Asked if he thought he was interfered with on the late Game 2 goal that got waved off for goalie interference, and unsuccessfully challenged, Andersen nodded.
“Ya, I think there was some contact with the glove for sure,” he said of a goalmouth poke by Ivan Barbashev.
“I think obviously I was trying to cover the puck and then obviously his stick got in there.”
Knowing the heavy burden of proof required to overturn a call, Rod Brind’Amour was probably as surprised as anyone that Tortorella challenged.
“What I do know, and it happened to us in the first game, when it’s called no goal on the ice, it better be 100 per cent to challenge it,” said the Carolina coach.
“That’s the rule we go by.”
Jagr connection continues
Rasmus Andersson gets a kick out of the fact that he’s part of a novel streak that makes this the 46th consecutive year in which a former teammate of Jaromir Jagr’s is playing in the Cup Final.
Andersson and Carolina forward Mark Jankowski played alongside the Czechia star for his final NHL season, in Calgary in 2017-18.
“Ya, that was a long time ago,” smiled Andersson.
“I remember I was on the ice for his last-ever NHL goal, and that's pretty cool. It's obviously cool that I played with him. He's a guy that dictates his own way, put it that way. He spent a lot of time at the gym and loved being at the rink. I guess it's cool in some way that the streak still lives on.”
Numbers game
When a best-of-seven final is tied 1-1, the Game 3 victor goes on to win the series nearly 80 per cent of the time (24-7; 77.4 per cent).
Proof the NHL keeps stats on EVERYTHING: Brett Howden and Jankowski had goals in Game 2, which featured alley-oop assists by Mitch Marner and Eric Robinson, respectively. Marner’s helper covered 91.3 feet while airborne and had a max height of 24.0 feet, while Robinson’s spanned 82.2 feet in the air and featured an apex of 19.7 feet. Now you know.
Before Game 3, Grammy-nominated multi-platinum artist, producer and songwriter Illenium will headline a free concert at Toshiba Plaza outside T-Mobile Arena, two hours before the 5 p.m. local puck drop. The temperature for the concert is expected to be 39 Celsius.
Carolina’s Game 3 lineup:
Svechnikov – Aho – Jarvis
Hall – Stankoven – Blake
Ehlers – Staal – Martinook
Carrier – Jankowski – Robinson
Slavin – Chatfield
Miller – Walker
Gostisbehere – Nikishin
Andersen
Bussi
Vegas’s Game 3 lineup:
Barbashev – Eichel – Dorofeyev
Howden – Karlsson – Marner
Hertl – Sissons – Stone
Smith – Dowd – Kolesar
Coghlan/McNabb – Theodore
Hanifin – Andersson
Coghlan/Korczak – Lauzon
Hart
Hill
