SALT LAKE CITY — Belief hasn’t wavered in the Vegas Golden Knights’ locker room heading into a pivotal Game 4, but that’s not stopping coach John Tortorella from making noticeable lineup changes.
Chief among them is Tortorella debuting new power-play units ahead of Monday against the Utah Mammoth at Delta Center.
Mitch Marner has been bumped to the second unit in favor of defenseman Shea Theodore, and Ivan Barbashev is replacing Tomas Hertl at the net-front spot.
“I think we’ve lost the special teams battle the last three games here,” said Tortorella, with his team down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. “It’s been a big part of where we’re at. We wanted to change something. We wanted to balance it a little bit. We’ll see where it goes.”
Tortorella called the power play “too deliberate” after Game 3, where the unit went 0-for-4 in the 4-2 loss.
The top unit has been a five-forward look almost all season, primarily because of Marner’s defensive ability and playmaking prowess. Theodore gives the Knights a true defenseman to quarterback the unit.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it,” Marner said. “I think both units have skill. It’s about going out there and doing the right job and make sure you’re not over passing. Getting pucks around the net, stacking opportunities and working around it.”
Tortorella is also changing the forward lines. Leading goal scorer Pavel Dorofeyev, moved down to the fourth line in the third period of Game 3, will start on the top line with Jack Eichel and Barbashev.
Tortorella said the key is to help Dorofeyev, who has two points in 12 career playoff games. Putting him with Nic Dowd and Cole Smith in Game 3 was a way to get him going because the fourth line has been the Knights’ most consistent trio.
“I think that’s where a lot of our success has come is from down there,” Tortorella said. “I liked some of the things we saw with a couple of guys on each line and made our decision to see how they start the game.”
Dorofeyev moving up puts captain Mark Stone on the second line with Marner. Reilly Smith moves up to that line, with Brett Howden now skating with Hertl and Keegan Kolesar.
The Knights also called up forwards Trevor Connelly and Braeden Bowman from Henderson to get some reps with the NHL roster.
Connelly and Bowman don’t play until Friday when the Silver Knights face the Colorado Eagles in the Pacific Division semifinals of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Tortorella said it was a way to get eyes on two of the Knights’ top prospects. Barring any drastic changes, they won’t be seeing any game action in the coming days.
Nothing has changed in the Knights’ approach. They feel doing more of the same on Monday will be enough to even the series heading back to Las Vegas for Wednesday’s Game 5.
“I think when we looked back at the game, I thought we played pretty well,” defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “Confidence is key. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
Up next
Who: Golden Knights at Mammoth
What: Game 4, first round (Mammoth lead 2-1)
When: 6:30 p.m. Monday
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
TV: ESPN, KMCC-34
Radio: KFLG 94.7 FM/KKGK 1340 AM
Line: Knights -120; total 6
