- John Tortorella confirmed Carter Hart will start Game 6 with Vegas facing elimination
- Hart has allowed exactly four goals in each of the Cup Final’s five games, an NHL first
- Read below for what Tortorella and Hart said at Saturday’s media availability
John Tortorella isn’t switching goalies.
The Golden Knights coach confirmed Saturday that Carter Hart will start Game 6 against Carolina, with Vegas down 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final and a loss away from the offseason. Asked whether the elimination stakes changed anything in net, Tortorella didn’t blink.
“He’s ready to go,” Tortorella said.
Catch Tortorella’s full Saturday availability from City National Arena:
Five straight four-goal games are the reason anyone is asking. Hart is the first goalie in NHL history to allow at least four in each of five consecutive Cup Final games, and three of those turned into Carolina wins.
Vegas’s goalie debate boiled over after Game 5, when Tortorella snapped at a reporter who asked if he had considered pulling Hart for Adin Hill. He called it the stupidest question he had heard, and his stance hasn’t softened a day later.
Tortorella laid out why he keeps running Hart out there.
“Because I know him, I know there’s a better game in him,” Tortorella said. “I’ve seen it throughout the playoffs. I think he’s a very good goalie. We’ve got to do a better job around him too.”
Hart spoke after practice about how he’s handling the biggest start of his season.
“I prepare the same way, like just any other game, and I’ll be ready to go,” Hart said. He added that he hasn’t been at his best this series and expects to be better in Game 6.
Hear from Hart and his teammates ahead of the must-win:
Their history runs back to Philadelphia, where Tortorella coached Hart for two seasons before both landed in Vegas. Hill, the goalie who backstopped the Golden Knights to the 2023 Cup, hasn’t played since April 9 and sits as the backup.
Game 6 goes Sunday at T-Mobile Arena at 8 p.m. ET. Vegas needs a win to force a Game 7 in Raleigh, and Tortorella is handing the net to the same goalie who has given up four every night.
