{"id":553884,"date":"2026-04-16T14:24:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/553884\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:24:25","slug":"vegas-golden-knights-overcome-struggles-to-win-lackluster-pacific-division-golden-knights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/553884\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegas Golden Knights overcome struggles to win lackluster Pacific Division | Golden Knights"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s obvious by now that John Tortorella didn\u2019t have enough time to put his own stamp on the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He had no choice \u2014 or maybe he did, in hindsight \u2014 but to rely on the players to claw their way out of a hole they dug themselves three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The record books will read the Knights won the Pacific Division, and it took 95 points to get there after their 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken<\/a> at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Say what you will about the division in its entirety. The Knights, even taking until Game 82 to do it, did what they set out to do.<\/p>\n

They get home-ice advantage for the first two rounds, starting with what should be an exciting first-round series against the Utah Mammoth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I know, since I\u2019ve been here, they have played to a level. and played it as a team consistently,\u201d Tortorella said.<\/p>\n

The Knights ended the regular season on a 7-0-1 run after Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy on March 29<\/a>, and they\u2019re heading into the playoffs on a 10-game point streak.<\/p>\n

The plus side is the Knights are playing their best hockey heading into the playoffs. The other half of the coin is that kind of momentum doesn\u2019t matter in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Hence why it doesn\u2019t matter that it took the Knights 95 points and Game 82 to wrap up the worst division in hockey this season.<\/p>\n

The NHL\u2019s playoff format makes it so the road to the Western Conference Final in the Pacific side of the bracket goes through Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on top there for a while for a lot of the season,\u201d defenseman Brayden McNabb said. \u201cThen we\u2019re in third, flirting with a wild card. We found our game at the right time and won the division. That\u2019s what we wanted to do, and we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tortorella didn\u2019t come in with an X\u2019s and O\u2019s overhaul. He\u2019s talked extensively about challenging the players\u2019 minds more than anything.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s translated at both ends of the ice. The Knights have averaged 4.13 goals under and a league-best 1.88 against since Tortorella took over.<\/p>\n

The offense has come alive. They\u2019ve also gotten the goaltending they\u2019ve needed with Carter Hart going 6-0 down the stretch and allowing 10 goals in those starts since returning from a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a backbone ever since he came back,\u201d defenseman Shea Theodore said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously great to have confidence in him. It\u2019s good to see him playing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday wasn\u2019t the easiest game. Seattle scored first, then pressured the Knights for half the game with their forecheck.<\/p>\n

Tortorella said the fast Kraken were \u201cquicker than us early on.\u201d It took the Knights time to get one by Seattle rookie goalie Nikke Kokko.<\/p>\n

The dam eventually broke with three goals in the third period.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a type of game that if you knew the result that you were going to win, you\u2019d almost want to play one of those before playoffs,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cYou don\u2019t like being in it when it\u2019s going on, but give our guys credit. They stayed with it and just kept playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knights are off Thursday before returning to practice Friday. Game 1 is likely on Sunday. There\u2019s time between now and then to dissect the opponent.<\/p>\n

But does Tortorella have any early thoughts on Utah?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how the press conference ended. Bring on playoff hockey.<\/p>\n

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @DannyWebster21<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s obvious by now that John Tortorella didn\u2019t have enough time to put his own stamp on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[5,4188,4,2686,234,5318],"class_list":{"0":"post-553884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-kraken","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-kraken","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-kraken","13":"tag-seattlekraken"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116414844901649564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}