The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1. Game 3 is in Las Vegas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).
While McNabb was being tended to, the Golden Knights’ five remaining defensemen, Shea Theodore, Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin, Jeremy Lauzon and Dylan Coghlan, picked up the extra minutes and responsibilities. Theodore led all Game 2 players in logging 28:30 of ice time. Hanifin was second on the Golden Knights at 24:15. Lauzon, who played 13:32 in Game 1, his first outing since sustaining an upper-body injury in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round against the Utah Mammoth on May 1, logged 21:08 in Game 2.
“Yeah, they played hard,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “Obviously, you lose a guy like ‘Nabber’ who logs heavy minutes, such a good teammate, plays the game so hard. It’s tough, but they played a good game. They battled as hard as they could.”
The 35-year-old McNabb has seven points (one goal, six assists) in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games. McNabb had the first three-assist game of his career, regular season or playoffs, to help the Golden Knights defeat the Hurricanes 5-4 in Game 1 on Tuesday.
McNabb, who helped the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup in 2023, has 33 blocked shots this postseason after leading them with 142 blocked shots in 63 regular-season games. His 1,417 blocked shots and 1,469 hits with Vegas are both first in Golden Knights history.
The remaining Golden Knights defensemen did what they could to make up for the loss of McNabb in Game 2. They can only hope he’s back for Game 3.
“Any time you see that happen to a teammate, especially to a guy like ‘Nabber’ who is a huge part of this team, a leader, it’s tough,” Hanifin said. “It’s hard to see that happen to any guy on the ice. We’re just hoping for the best for him.”