RALEIGH, NC – Tomas Hertl has had opportunities. Oh boy, did he have any chances.
In 5-on-5. In the power game. He was getting a good chance to star in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night. But he couldn’t finish those chances.
The hockey gods must have been watching. Because late in the third period and extra time was approaching, Hertl got another chance. This time, he did not waste, hitting Frederik Andersen from the slot with 3:24 left and gave the Vegas Golden Knights a 5-4 lead at the Lenovo Center and finally, to win a 1-0 lead in the best 7 series.
Hertl is a hero.
“I was trying to get open,” Hertl said of the play that gave the Knights the Game 1 victory. “I wouldn’t say it was an easy shot but I didn’t give the goalkeeper time to move.”
The man who played 29 consecutive games without scoring a goal from the beginning of March to April did not give up. Even his coach like John Tortorella did not keep Hertl on the list and he has finally earned his keep. Moving from center to center on the third line with Colton Sissons and Mark Stone, Hertl has four goals and eight assists in the playoffs.
“It wasn’t like I wasn’t getting opportunities,” Hertl said of his early struggles. “But I continued to shoot and I was lucky to bounce and I continued.
“Maybe I could have shot a few times (Tuesday) but I was looking for my teammates. I hope you don’t ask me anymore about the breakdown.”
Tortorella said he was willing to stick with Hertl longer than an experienced or underachieving player.
“We gave Tommy more time but time was running out,” Tortorella said. “But when he scored (against Anaheim in Game 4), he was successful and gave us consistent minutes. He never stopped working on his game. It’s a great moment.”
Tortorella always trusts his veterans. He did this especially for the Golden Knights. And they gave him little reason not to. Even with Nik Ehlers down 2-0 and the Canes and Lenovo Center sellout crowd of 18,738 in a frenzy, the Knights held their own, scoring three unanswered goals by Shea Theodore, Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson to take a 3-2 lead.
And when Jordan Staal tied it for Carolina, there was no panic. Brett Howden, the NHL’s leading scorer in the postseason, scored his 11th of the playoffs to give Vegas a 4-3 lead.
“They’re a calm team,” Tortorella said of the Knights. “They have won before.
Shayne Gostisbehere brought the Canes back to 4-4. But all he did was set the stage for Hertl to score one of the biggest goals of his hockey career.
“It’s always good when you can score a goal and help your team win,” he said.
And while the Knights and their fans celebrated Hertl, Howden was almost as important.
He talks about being humble about being in the right place at the right time. On Tuesday, he was in the right place at the right time, which meant he was ahead of Andersen.
Howden redirected Theodore’s shot 1:21 into the third period that at the time gave the Knights the lead in what had become a stalemate. For Howden, this is the type of running backs dream of having. He continues to give the Knights quality minutes every night, 11 goals though.
“He does things the right way,” Totorella said of Howden.
You hit when you try to go forward to the net. It is hard work and not everyone is cut out for it. But Howden has ventured into those dirty places of ice where only the strong survive.
Hertl also pays the same price, in front of and behind the opponent’s net. Things tend to be physical and you have to be tough, mentally and physically.
And on a night where neither team’s goaltender was very sharp over 60 minutes, the Knights did what the Canadiens, Flyers and Senators couldn’t, and that was Andersen working the Carolina net. They had just four shots in the first half and it looked like the Hurricanes’ now-famous gun-suppressing tactics would run the gamut.
But the Knights figured out how to get the pressure on Andersen and would finish Game 1 with 23 shots, while Carter Hart settled in and stopped 23 of 27 he faced.
“We needed to be patient,” Tortorella said. “If you face a team, they will benefit. So there are lessons we learned from this game.”
McNabb, who had three assists in Game 1, said one of the biggest lessons we learned was dealing with Carolina’s speed and agility.
“Now we know how hard they come at you,” McNabb said. “I thought that once we got used to their speed we would be ready.”
For the Hurricanes, who lost for only the second time in the postseason, they know they are in the series. They have lost their chance to play on the ice for now and if Vegas wins at T-Mobile Arena, they will be holding the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years.
That’s simple math. The hard part will be doing it. And don’t be surprised if Vegas uses the same script they followed in Colorado during the Western Conference Finals where they won Game 1 at the Ball Arena and were not satisfied. The Knights would take Game 2 and go on to sweep the Avalanche.
“We want to keep the momentum going,” Tortorella said of how to approach Game 2 on Thursday.
But this night belonged to the veterans, guys who have been through battles over the years and know how to find a way to stay in a battle long enough to win. Guys like Theodore, who had a goal and two assists, Karlsson, Howden, and Hertl.
And if we’ve learned anything about this team to watch all season, it’s that playing from behind isn’t a problem. It’s almost as if they enjoy the challenge, like putting together a puzzle and solving it.
“It’s a league of finding a way and we found a way tonight,” Tortorella said.
On Tuesday, they managed to get it in time.
