Brayden McNabb’s status for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final is still up in the air after he left Thursday night’s game with a puck to the face and did not return. The Vegas Golden Knights are scheduled to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, but coach John Tortorella said there was no update on McNabb after the team’s practice session Friday.
The uncertainty matters because McNabb is one of Vegas’s most relied-on defensemen, and his absence would change how the Golden Knights manage their blue line in a series tied 1-1. He left Game 2 at 10:52 of the first period, after taking a slap shot from Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers while positioned in front of the Vegas net. McNabb quickly skated to the locker room with his hand over his mouth and nose, then remained out for the rest of the 4-3 overtime loss in Raleigh, North Carolina.
McNabb traveled back to Las Vegas with his teammates on Friday, but that did not produce any clarity on whether he can play in Game 3, which is set for 8 p.m. ET. The timing is critical for Vegas because the team has spent the postseason leaning on McNabb’s minutes and shot-blocking. He has seven points, including one goal and six assists, while averaging 19:59 of ice time and posting a plus-10 rating. He also had the first three-assist game of his career in Vegas’s Game 1 win on Tuesday.
That production has come with the kind of workload that makes his availability hard to replace. McNabb has 33 blocked shots this postseason, led the Golden Knights with 142 blocked shots in 63 regular-season games, and owns franchise marks with 1,417 blocked shots and 1,469 hits. He won the Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2023 and has become a fixture on a defense that has already had to adjust around other absences and fill-ins during the playoffs.
Tortorella said the Golden Knights feel comfortable with their defensemen even without a clear update on McNabb, pointing to the way players such as Dylan Coghlan, Ben Hutton and Kaedan Korczak have been used when needed. Shea Theodore said the club has battled through lineup changes all year, and Noah Hanifin called McNabb a huge part of the team and said the group was hoping for the best. For Vegas, the next answer is the only one that matters: whether McNabb can suit up when the Stanley Cup Final resumes Saturday night.
