Golden Knights taking big risk by sticking with Carter Hart in goal

John Tortorella is sticking with his goalie, and there does not appear to be anything that is going to change that.

After becoming the first goalie to give up at least four goals in each of the first five games of a Stanley Cup Final series, Carter Hart will be back in the Vegas Golden Knights net when the team tries to push the series against the Carolina Hurricanes to a decisive seventh game.

Tortorella referred to a question about pulling Hart following the team's Game 5 loss as one of the "stupidest" questions he's heard, and announced on Saturday that Hart will be back in the net for Game 6 on Sunday.

It is a significant risk, and one that could ultimately help define Tortorella's brief Golden Knights tenure.

Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella is backing his goalie

There are a couple of things that make the decision so baffling from a Golden Knights perspective.

The most obvious is the reality that Hart has allowed 20 goals in five games in the series, and has allowed exactly four goals in all five games. 

Even worse, he has allowed four goals more than expected (via Natural Stat Trick numbers) indicating that it's not just an issue of the play around him or bad bounces. He's simply not making as many saves as he should be making.

But there is also the fact Adin Hill is Vegas' backup. Hill backstopped the Golden Knights to its first championship three years ago and is no stranger to big games. 

Tortorella does not want to hear any of it, and flat out rejected the idea of starting Hill for Game 6.

So what does he see in Hart?

From NHL.com:

“Because I know him, I know there’s a better game in him,” Tortorella said. “I’ve seen it throughout the playoffs. I think he’s a very good goalie. We’ve got to do a better job around him too. You can look at the numbers — and you guys, that’s what you do, you spit out those numbers — but I’ve got to look at things differently and watch what the play is going on around him and what type of goals are being scored.”

Tortorella and Hart have a history together going back to their time with the Philadelphia Flyers. That almost certainly is playing a role in the trust that we are seeing here despite the troubling numbers. 

Sticking with Hart is a decision that could not only help determine the series, but also help define what has been a wild — and brief —  tenure with Tortorella in Vegas.

He took over with eight games to play in the regular season and has helped get them to this stage.

But he has also already cost the organization a second-round pick for skipping out on a press conference following the team's second-round clinching win, and then may have cost the team a game in Game 2 with an ill-advised coaching challenge late in the third period. That failed challenge ended up costing them in what turned out to be an overtime defeat. 

If he sticks with a goalie that has yet to allow fewer than four goals in a Stanley Cup Final game, and they lose in part due to that, it is going to lead to a very long summer in Vegas with a lot of questions.