The Vegas Golden Knights clinched a Stanley Cup playoff berth for the eighth time in their nine years of existence with a 3-2 overtime win over Colorado on Saturday. But don’t look for John Tortorella’s team to take the foot off the pedal in their final two regular-season contests.
Vegas (37-26-17, 91 points), which hosts the Winnipeg Jets (35-32-12, 82 points) on Monday night in Las Vegas, is still in a very tight three-way battle for first place in the Pacific Division with the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks.
The results in the final two games against the Jets and Wednesday against Seattle will play a key role in winning a possible division title and securing home ice for the first round of the playoffs.
“We’re looking to keep going here,” Tortorella said. “Happy that they can say they’re in, but there’s other things to do here in the next couple games … I won’t lie. Nice to say we’re in right now. Now we go back and try to find a way in our division.”
Still, the future looks a lot brighter for the Golden Knights than it did on March 29 when Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy behind the bench. Vegas had won just three of its previous 12 games (3-7-2) and looked lethargic doing it.
That’s changed under Tortorella. The Golden Knights have gone 5-0-1 since the coaching change and claimed seven of a possible eight points on a challenging four-game road trip that began with a 5-1 win at Edmonton and concluded with the overtime win over the Avalanche.
“He’s been fantastic,” Jack Eichel, who scored the OT winner, said of Tortorella. “He brings a ton of energy. He gets us ready to play every night. His enthusiasm, his emotion in the locker room when he’s delivering messages, you can feel it. I think it’s given us a spark.”
Winnipeg comes into the contest with its playoff hopes on life support following an ugly 7-1 home loss to Philadelphia on Saturday. The Jets are five points below the playoff line with just three games (and a maximum of six points) remaining.
Winnipeg fell behind 3-1 in the first nine minutes against the Flyers and trailed 5-1 after two periods in what was considered a must-win game going in.
“It’s one of those ones, whether we lost 7-1 or 3-2, those are critical points,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said. “Now we know the situation we’re in. We pretty much have to pick up every point the rest of the way and hopefully, we can get some help.”
Winnipeg also plays at Utah on Tuesday and finishes the season at home against San Jose on Thursday.
“We know how tight it is and in the situation we’re in, we need points desperately,” defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “No one wants to lose like that. It’s embarrassing in our own arena. At the same time, what are we going to do, cry about it? We’ve got three games left. The score hurts right now as we drive home, but we’ve got to turn the page and keep pushing like we have been.”
