After extensively dissecting the video of his team’s dramatic come-from-behind 5-3 victory in Game 3 on Sunday, Tortorella came up with a conclusion.
“We’re playing another game and we need to be better,” he said. “That’s how we’re going to approach it and that’s how we’re going to do it. That’s how we’re going to go about it.”
In other words, game by game. Period by period. Shift by shift.
“I trust them,” Tortorella said. “I think they get it. That’s how we’re going to approach it.”
Translation: Take nothing for granted.
Yes, Colorado’s Cale Makar, a two-time winner of the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman and a finalist this season, might not yet be 100 percent after missing the first two games of the series with an upper-body injury.
Yes, forward Nathan MacKinnon, the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner as the League’s top goal-scorer with 53 and the heart and soul of the Avalanche, is questionable after blocking a shot with his right leg in Game 3.
And yes, forward Valeri Nichushkin, who had 49 points (17 goals, 32 assists) during the regular season, is also questionable after sustaining a lower-body injury late in the second period on Sunday.
No matter.
The Golden Knights aren’t about to get involved in the “will he or won’t he play” speculation. Their primary focus is concentrating on how to defeat Colorado for a fourth consecutive game no matter who might or might not be healthy enough to suit up in an Avalanche jersey in Game 4.
“I think the fourth win is always the hardest to get, whether it’s first round, second round or conference finals,” Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore said. “We’re going to expect their best.
“Obviously, for them, it’s win or go home, so we have to match that intensity from the start. I think we can have a better start than we did in Game 3 and just kind of keep building our game from there.”
Upon further review, they could not have come out of the gate much worse in Game 3.
By the time the first period was over, the Golden Knights trailed 3-0. Never before had Vegas won a postseason game in which they’d trailed by three or more goals, having previously gone 0-19 in those situations.
They snapped that dubious streak by scoring five consecutive times en route to victory.
It’s not a hill they want to try to climb again.
“We want to come out with a better start, for sure,” forward Brett Howden said. “I think that’s our mindset going into the game and building the game from that.”
Howden was asked what Tortorella’s message has been to the team.
“I think we’re not trying to look at this any differently,” he said. “We’re not trying to approach the game any differently. We want to keep improving our game and we’re going into the game with the same mindset: try to win the game. He reiterated that today.
“We obviously know what’s at stake, but we’re not going to let that change our mindset. We had a good meeting with ‘Torts’ today, too.
“We’re not looking too far ahead. Just one game.”
Just one game.
Win it, and the Golden Knights slay the mighty Avalanche while punching their ticket for their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history.
Lose it, and Colorado still has a chance to become the fifth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-7 series, joining the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings.
The stage is set, just a slap shot away from the flashy Vegas strip, to see which it will be.
