John Tortorella has been coaching the Vegas Golden Knights for a little over six weeks, and he sounded like a man trying to make sense of a postseason that keeps changing under his feet. Vegas took a 3-2 series lead over the Anaheim Ducks with an overtime win on Tuesday night, while the Buffalo Sabres beat the Canadiens in Montreal to even their best-of-seven series at 2-2.
The timing matters because Tortorella is coming up on his 22nd anniversary of hoisting the Stanley Cup, and the playoffs have turned into a test of what matters more when the pressure rises. "I’m not sure what’s better: experience or youth, when you have no clue what’s going on?" he said. It was the kind of line that lands because it fits a postseason where neither side has looked fully settled for long.
For Vegas, the value of having been there before was easy to hear in the room. Defenseman Rasmus Andersson said, "We’re a pretty comfortable group in there, and there’s a lot of players in there who’ve been through it and had a lot of success and won," before adding, "We’re an older team, and it’s that feeling that no moment is too big." That is the backdrop to a series in which the Golden Knights have leaned on experience while Anaheim has pushed with pace and the energy of a younger core.
Buffalo, too, showed how quickly a series can tighten. The Sabres scored the opening goal less than seven minutes into Game 4 and still had to hold off a Montreal side that knows what playoff disappointment feels like. The Canadiens were bounced in five games by Washington in the first round a year ago, and only a few players remain from the team that made its improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021 before falling short against Tampa Bay.
Lindy Ruff said Wednesday, "We battled through all that," after his club fought to the finish in Montreal. The line fit a group that has spent the postseason trying to prove it can absorb a punch and keep going. It also fit a wider pattern across these series: older teams trying to use memory as a shield, younger teams trying to turn inexperience into fearlessness.
Anaheim has veterans of its own, including Alex Killorn, John Carlson, Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, even as the Ducks continue to be defined by younger legs and speed. Mason McTavish put the challenge in plain terms: "I’m pretty excited to see what we all got," he said. "It’s our first time with our backs against the wall." That is where the series now sits, with the Ducks needing a response and Vegas trying to turn a 3-2 edge into something final.
Joel Quenneville, who has three Cup rings from his time as head coach in Chicago, said Tuesday night reminded him of a similar Game 5 11 years ago at Anaheim. That kind of memory is part of what the postseason keeps rewarding. Tortorella knows it, Ruff knows it, Quenneville knows it, and the teams still trying to find their footing are learning it in real time. The next games will show whether the advantage belongs to the clubs with history or the ones still too young to believe they should be afraid of it.
