Hart's play will be key to Golden Knights' success in WCF

LAS VEGAS — To get this far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, you need good goaltending.

Carter Hart has been that for the Vegas Golden Knights. He may have to be better than good for his team to get past the Colorado Avalanche when the Western Conference Final begins Wednesday at Ball Arena.

The 27-year-old from the Edmonton suburbs has been in net for all 12 games in the postseason and has a 2.30 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He has faced some pretty good shooters so far, including Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther of Utah and Anaheim’s Beckett Sennecke and Alex Killorn and has managed to come out on top.

Now, the challenge is to get the better of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas and the rest of the Avalanche, which have lost only once in this year’s playoffs. That’s not going to be an easy task and it will likely take a total team effort in order to help Hart come out on top in a series that figures to be high scoring.

That means forwards coming back to help in their own end. It means the defensemen not getting caught in pinches and creating odd-man rushes for the Avs, who have speed to burn.

And ultimately, it means Hart delivering. not just making the routine saves, but perhaps being spectacular at times to deny Colorado’s explosive offense which has generated 37 goals and 95 total points to date in its nine games.

And while Hart has been good so far, there have been times where he hasn’t been. He’s been beaten from distance to his glove side on more than one occasion in the playoffs and I’m sure he and Sean Burke, the Knights’ goaltending coach, are aware of it and have discussed that part of his game.

Coach John Tortorella doesn’t seem too concerned about his goaltender. He has stuck with Hart through the rough patches of games and has been rewarded with overall quality playoff goaltending.

“To me, with him, it’s his mental growth,” Tortorella said. “The play itself speaks for itself. His preparation, how he’s handled a couple of situations he’s gone through in both series where he may struggled in a couple of games, how he’s bounces right back.

“I’ve been fortunate to have him for a few years. I think he really cares. I think that’s the bottom line with Carter, he cares about how he plays. He knows how important that position is for our team and he’s gotten stronger mentally.”



 The mental aspect of preparation has been a big part of Tortorella’s overall plan for this team. At this point, being on the ice isn’t as important as being ready mentally to play. So it’s more about video sessions rather than on-ice practices.

“I think practice is overrated at this time of the year,” Tortorella said. “It’s more important to be mentally prepared to play.”

Mitch Marner, the NHL’s leading playoff scorer with 18 points, said it’s a good way to prepare.

“t’s going to be a challenge playing against this team,” he said Monday.  “You take care of yourself as much as you need, keep the vibe light and go out and have fun.”

The Knights are still without Mark Stone, who was injured during the Anaheim series and Jeremy Lauzon, who did not play against the Ducks. Their availability for the Western Conference Final remains unknown as Game 1 approaches. Vegas advanced despite their captain’s absence and Dylan Coghlan has done a decent job replacing Lauzon in the lineup. But it would certainly enhance the Knights’ chances if they had Stone and Lauzon in the lineup.

But you play who you can play and that’s Tortorella’s focus. He knows what’s at stake and what it’s going to require to take the next step. And it starts with his goalie, who he has complete confidence in.

“I know their team is going to be prepared,” he said. “I know this team is going to be prepared, so let’s play.”