Kelly McCrimmon fired Bruce Cassidy and hired John Tortorella on March 29, 2026, and the Vegas Golden Knights have not lost since. They were 7-0-1 under Tortorella going into their playoff opener at home on Sunday against Utah, a stretch that helped them win the Pacific Division for the fifth time in their nine years.
Jack Eichel said the change gave the team a needed jolt. “Sometimes you need a reminder,” he said, adding that Tortorella saw “we have a really good hockey team in here and we need to believe in ourselves and in each other.” Eichel, who finished with 90 points for the second consecutive season, said the group had started to build confidence and that it now had to “attack the games” and “put pressure on the other team.”
The numbers back up the change. Under Tortorella, Vegas raised its scoring average from 3.12 goals per game to 4.13 while cutting goals allowed from 3.07 per game to 1.88. Carter Hart became the primary goalie under Tortorella after the league reinstated him beginning Dec. 1, and the Golden Knights gave him a chance after that ruling. Tortorella, who coached Hart in Philadelphia, said he knew Vegas was a good team coming in and that he had only three or four points of emphasis to bring across.
That restraint mattered because Vegas was struggling to hang on to a playoff spot before the coaching change, even though it had won the Stanley Cup three years earlier. Tortorella said he would not overload the team with information or make massive changes, and the results have been immediate enough to push the Golden Knights into the postseason with momentum and, for now, a sharper identity.
The next test comes Sunday against Utah, where Vegas will find out whether the same formula that rescued its season can hold up once the games carry full playoff weight.
