John Tortorella is not blinking, and Adin Hill is watching from the bench as the Vegas Golden Knights head into Sunday's must-win Game 6 down 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final.
Hart has now allowed four or more goals in five consecutive games to open this Cup Final, making him the first goalie in NHL history to do it in five straight to begin a series.
That is not a slump. That is a record nobody wanted to own.
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Yet Tortorella, hired in late March, shut down the conversation before it started. Asked Thursday if he considered pulling Hart, he snapped: "Oh, Christ. That could be the stupidest question I've heard."
That kind of defensive posture tells you everything about the dynamic in that locker room right now.
Carolina has been relentless. Jordan Staal has 8 goals and 4 assists in 18 playoff games, with 6 of those goals coming in his last 10. He is playing like a man who knows this is his moment.
Adin Hill has done this before, on shorter notice and higher stakes
Svechnikov has been a power-play menace, scoring 4 PP goals in 18 playoff games. His low shot in Game 5 slipped through Hart's pads and it was the kind of goal a sharp goalie stops cold.
Meanwhile, Hill sits on a six-year, $37.5 million contract and has not dressed for a game since April 9.
That is 64 days of watching. And waiting.
His track record in this exact situation is hard to dismiss. In 2023, Hill had not started in 61 days before being thrown into a tie game in the second round against Edmonton. He stopped all 24 shots. He finished that run with a .932 save percentage, and the Golden Knights won the Cup.
Brandon Bussi has told a similar story from the other side of the ice in this series. The rookie has a .908 save percentage in 3 playoff games, stepping in for Frederik Andersen, who posted a .874 regular-season save percentage. The swing Bussi gave Carolina is exactly the kind of lift Vegas needs from someone.
Vegas finished the regular season 39-26-17 with 95 points. They have the talent. The question is whether they can get saves beyond the ones they should expect.
Tortorella's loyalty to Hart is understandable. Hart won 19 of his first 23 starts under Tortorella's bench in Vegas. That kind of trust does not evaporate overnight.
But five straight games with four goals allowed is not a rough patch. Something has to give, and right now the Golden Knights look like a team that is hoping the problem fixes itself.
Hill is sitting there with a Stanley Cup ring, a .917 career playoff save percentage, and a contract that was signed specifically for moments like this one.
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Whether Tortorella actually turns to him before this series ends is another question entirely.
Should John Tortorella pull Carter Hart and start Adin Hill in Game 6?
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