The Vegas Golden Knights struggled out of the Olympic break, dropping in the division standings and not looking like a team that can make the playoffs. After being on the losing end in six of seven games, the Golden Knights fired coach Bruce Cassidy and replaced him with John Tortorella.
Now, Mark Stone is attempting to explain what happened to cause the demise of Cassidy, but is not coming up with answers, according to Paul Delos Santos of NHL.com.
“We weren’t playing with that same emotion that we normally do,” Stone said. “Early on, we’re not starting with that emotion. That’s probably the mindset going forward is to start the game cleanly with that kind of emotion.”
While Stone said the team lacked emotion and even said the message had become “a little stale,” he was surprised by the timing of the move in the midst of a playoff race.
“It’s different. I’ve never been through this time of the year, but it’s a new energy,” Stone said of the change. “It’s a new voice. … We have a good team. We have good players. So I think he’s excited to see what he can do with us.”
At the end of the day, though, the results fall on the players, and Jack Eichel knows that they need to play better overall.
“It always falls on the players at the end of the day, we’re the ones that go out there and perform every night,” Eichel said. “We’re all grown men and should be able to go out there and do your job now. It just seemed like our energy and some of our spirit had been lost a little bit recently.”
The first game of the Tortarella era in Vegas got off to a successful start, with the Golden Knights taking a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. They will have seven more games under the new coach before the playoffs.
The Golden Knights are 33-26-16 on the season, good for third in the Pacific Division. They also have a six-point lead on the Los Angeles Kings in the playoff race. They return to the ice on Thursday night to face the Calgary Flames.
