LAS VEGAS — If this Stanley Cup Final has taught us anything, it’s that no lead is safe, no momentum lasts forever, and no amount of video review can prevent athletes from doing something completely irrational when the pressure reaches its boiling point.
As the hockey world watches a Final that has swung wildly from game to game, the NBA has been delivering its own version of chaos, highlighted by the Knicks’ jaw-dropping 29-point comeback in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The parallels aren’t lost on Golden Knights coach John Tortorella.
In fact, when asked about the Knicks’ rally, he couldn’t help but laugh at how closely it mirrored what’s been happening on the ice.
“They’ve been watching our games,” he smiled after admitting he watched San Antonio’s latest collapse.
“Who would have thought? I wanted to go to bed, but when they got it down to 15 you knew something stupid was going to happen. I’m just basically saying the same stupid stuff is happening in our series.”
This Final has become a masterclass in self-inflicted wounds.
And after a decisive 4-2 loss in Game 5, the Golden Knights better hope the craziness continues because, for the first time in this series, they look like the underdog.
It also doesn’t help that Vegas has to deal with the likelihood that their second-line centre, William Karlsson, is lost due to injury.
Carolina has won two straight and suddenly appears to have control of a matchup that once looked destined for a long Vegas celebration.
The Hurricanes have the momentum.
They have the better goaltending, the better power play and they have Jordan Staal.
Most importantly, they’re making fewer catastrophic mistakes.
That’s saying something considering Carolina somehow managed three separate delay-of-game penalties in Game 5 by firing pucks over the glass.
In Game 5, the Golden Knights’ aggressiveness cost them dearly, leading to two Andrei Svechnikov power-play goals.
That, and the inability to cover Staal, prompted players to admit their problems were self-inflicted.
Yet Tortorella’s message is all about trusting players who have been through these moments before.
“As coaches, I think I’ve always said, we over-coach,” said Tortorella.
“We always want to try to predict what’s going to happen, and try to almost force the outcome, and how we go about our business.
“I think our game has changed, and it is a game of a ton of mistakes – regular season, and more so in the playoffs now, so it’s out of our control.”
Coaches spend the wee hours of the night dissecting tendencies, building game plans and preparing contingencies. Then the puck drops and somebody flips a puck over the glass, loses coverage in front, or makes a panic play they’ve never made before.
“It’s crazy what goes on on the ice,” said Tortorella.
“We spend three-and-a-half, four hours breaking a game down, and it’s crazy what you see.”
The same principle applies to basketball.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman brought up one pivotal mistake made by San Antonio’s De’Aaron Fox in the dying seconds of the Knicks comeback that wound up being the difference. Instead of running out the clock, his shot was blocked, giving the Knicks a chance at the winning basket.
“The intensity and just the moment that’s going on in the Finals now, I mean, they’re human beings, it just overcomes you sometimes to do some stupid things,” said Tortorella.
“I don’t have an answer. Who can explain some of the things that’s gone on in this series?”
That’s precisely why Vegas still has hope.
For all the momentum Carolina has built, winning the clinching game inside a hostile T-Mobile Arena presents a completely different challenge.
The Golden Knights will be desperate.
And desperation has been the defining theme of this entire Final.
Tortorella knows there’s only so much he can do now, so his big post-game move was to remind everyone how battle-tested his veterans are, insisting he’d leave his clothes in Raleigh for a Game 7 return.
One of the few cards left to play.
He also showed complete confidence in Carter Hart, dissing a reporter for asking if he considered pulling the man who has allowed four goals in five straight.
Maybe that confidence matters. Maybe it doesn’t.
At this stage, coaches can only trust.
“Our team understands the situation, and the pressure that goes with it, and they’ve experienced it before,” said Tortorella.
“We have got a good locker room. I trust the group, I trust all the situations that come at them. Do we succeed all the time? No, but I trust them.”
The Golden Knights need that trust to be rewarded now.
Because Carolina has taken control of this series.
And if the madness that has defined this Final finally settles down, the Stanley Cup may be headed east.
Vegas’ best chance is that one more stupid thing happens.