The Golden Knights need to start looking for some answers after splitting at home in two underwhelming performances to start their second-round series against the Ducks.<\/p>\n
Coach John Tortorella hasn\u2019t been around the team long, but he should know where to find them ahead of Friday night\u2019s Game 3 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t a unique situation for this franchise. While he was brought in late in the season to try to bring a fresh voice to a team on a late slide, the players in that locker room have experienced more than enough postseason hockey to understand for themselves the circumstances and how to best turn things around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not down in the series right now, but we\u2019ve got to find our game and we have not done that,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cThat\u2019s incumbent on us as a coaching staff to try and give them the right information and as a group, to try to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last part is key.<\/p>\n
That room is filled with accolades, honors, gold medalists, Stanley Cup winners and some of the biggest stars in the sport.<\/p>\n
They know what needs to be done without anyone telling them, so the job of a coach with this type of roster is often to simply find ways to remind them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect this group,\u201d Tortorella said during Thursday\u2019s off day before boarding the flight to Orange County. \u201cHow I coach this group is totally different from how I would coach a younger team that\u2019s just starting to go through it, so I need to show them that respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut points will be made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps getting stronger on the puck in the offensive zone to establish more possession time there. Or not letting opponents hang out in front of the net unchecked. Or staying out of the box and not putting so much stress on the penalty-killing units.<\/p>\n
Really, all of the above.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to talk about specifics,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s one in my head, yes. But I\u2019m not going to put it in yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tortorella will save those details for the players, though they probably already know.<\/p>\n
He may also tweak the lines a bit, something he declined to commit to on Thursday. Maybe there will even be a lineup change or two.<\/p>\n
But in the end, the Knights are just going to have to play better. They are certainly capable of it, particularly just two games removed from a masterful Game 6 performance to clinch the first-round series over Utah.<\/p>\n
Tortorella has seen the Knights\u2019 game when they are going good a few times since taking over for fired Bruce Cassidy just 16 games ago and he knows how they are capable of playing.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also seen how they can positively respond to adversity.<\/p>\n
Last series was not only tied 1-1, but the Knights fell behind 2-1 before winning three straight to advance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went through it in the first round,\u201d he said. \u201cWe went through it during the regular season a little bit in some games. I have the utmost trust, but it\u2019s my job to coach the team and how we\u2019re playing. I have a number of things in my head that need to be brought to attention here really quickly before we do put ourselves in a really bad spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing Tortorella doesn\u2019t have with most of these players is personal experience to draw from. While he\u2019s been coaching more than a quarter century and has a Stanley Cup and two coach of the year awards on an expansive resume, he hasn\u2019t necessarily been with this particular group long enough to necessarily have a previous experience in pushing certain buttons for a specific player, line or defensive pairing.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not something he\u2019s concerned about.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the players, and I think the players understand me better,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a great support staff with the coaches, and (executives Kelly McCrimmon and George McPhee). I have a pretty good idea about the makeup of the players, where I can put them. That isn\u2019t a detriment at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tortorella spent much of the off day watching film after not sleeping a whole lot after the Game 2 loss. He will undoubtedly have a message and some thoughts for them on how to approach Game 5.<\/p>\n
But once the puck drops, only the players can find the answers they are seeking.<\/p>\n
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @AdamHillLVRJ<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden Knights need to start looking for some answers after splitting at home in two underwhelming performances…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-306964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}