From backlash to Pacific title: The Golden Knights’ Tortorella gamble paying off so far
LAS VEGAS (AP) — General manager Kelly McCrimmon was walking away from the Golden Knights' locker room Monday night after a victory over Jets , but he could have easily reversed course and done a victory lap in front of the assembled media. McCrimmon probably would say it's too early to celebrate because the NHL playoffs have yet to begin, and that will be the true measure of how successful Vegas' season is viewed. But it's difficult to argue his controversial and bold decision March 29 to relieve popular and successful coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties and turn the reins over to John Tortorella hasn't worked out.
Going into its playoff opener at home Sunday against Utah, Vegas is 7-0-1 under the fiery coach known as Torts, having risen from struggling to hang on to a playoff spot to claiming the Pacific Division for the fifth time in their nine years. Front-line center Jack Eichel, who had 90 points for the second consecutive season, said Tortorella injected confidence in a team that was lacking it just three years after winning the Stanley Cup . “Sometimes you need a reminder,” Eichel said.
“He saw we have a really good hockey team in here and we need to believe in ourselves and in each other. That's the first step to being a great hockey team is believing in ourselves. I think you've started to see that the last few weeks.
We started to build more confidence in each other and our game. ” The 67-year-old Tortorella, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup title in 2004, said at his introductory news conference that he wouldn't overload the team with information and make massive changes. It's a strategy he's stuck to since then.
“I knew it was a good team coming in,” Tortorella said this week. “I know it was coached well prior to me. I had some points of emphasis, probably three or four, that I want to bring across to them.