McNabb status – John Tortorella offered no update on Brayden McNabb’s status as the Golden Knights prepare for Game 3 on Saturday night. After McNabb left Game 2 with a nose injury following an 87-mph slapshot from Nik Ehlers, Vegas leaned on its depth defense and logged heav
In Vegas, the series storyline is no longer just about goals and momentum—it’s about who can survive the night on ice.
John Tortorella, preparing his Golden Knights for Game 3 on Saturday night, wouldn’t say whether Brayden McNabb will be available. When asked for an update during his morning media availability, the coach’s answer was brief and firm: “No update.”
McNabb left Game 2 immediately after taking an 87-m.p.h. slapshot from Nik Ehlers to the nose in the first period. The hit was the kind that changes how a team distributes minutes, fast. After McNabb departed for repairs, the Golden Knights were down to five defencemen for the rest of the game. Shea Theodore responded with a workload that stretched past 28 minutes of ice time.
McNabb, 35, is a rugged, minute-muncher on the top pairing and owns the Golden Knights’ iron-man streak. If he isn’t able to play, the most obvious defensive addition is right-shot defender Kaedan Korczak. Dylan Coghlan would then likely slide up to the top pairing with Theodore.
“We feel very comfortable with our D,” Tortorella said.
“(Coghlan) has come in, Hutty (Ben Hutton) has given us some good minutes, (Korczak) has come in. You get to the fourth round, you’ve got to tap into that, so we’re very comfortable where we’re at.”
The pressure of uncertainty doesn’t just live in lineup cards. It also shows up in how crowds react when the game swings late. A lot has been made about how the Hurricanes’ comeback in Game 2 matched Jumbotron instructions at Lenovo Center telling the gents in the crowd to go tarps off.
With the series shifting to T-Mobile Arena, the question naturally becomes whether game-night fun could spill into something louder—and potentially messier—on a Saturday night in Vegas.
“Yeah, probably,” Coghlan laughed.
“The two cities are a little bit different as far as entertainment goes. But yeah, it would be fun to see.”
You thought Raleigh was loud… and the talk around this series has only hardened that belief. Carolina had an electric atmosphere for the first two games in Raleigh, and in Vegas, the expectation is that the noise and fervor will go “to 11.”
Freddy Andersen spoke openly about how teams can feed off a boosted playoff atmosphere. In Montreal, where the crowd is also among the league’s loudest, he said the key is different from simply trying to hype yourself up.
“It’s probably the opposite of pumping yourself up — I think it’s just resting in it,” the Carolina netminder said.
“The louder it gets, the more quiet you get in your own little bubble, and then you just focus on what you try to do to execute.
“It’s a special time of year, and it’s a really cool opportunity and experience we all get to have. If we weren’t enjoying it as well, it would be a big shame.”
Andersen was also asked about interference on the late Game 2 goal that was waved off for goalie interference and then unsuccessfully challenged. He nodded.
“Ya, I think there was some contact with the glove for sure,” Andersen said of a goalmouth poke by Ivan Barbashev.
“I think obviously I was trying to cover the puck and then obviously his stick got in there.”
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour likely felt the same sting about the timing of the challenge as he did about the outcome. When no goal is called on the ice, he said, the burden of proof has to be absolute.
“What I do know, and it happened to us in the first game, when it’s called no goal on the ice, it better be 100 per cent to challenge it,” Brind’Amour said.
“That’s the rule we go by.”
The Jagr connection keeps threading through the Cup Final. Rasmus Andersson gets a kick out of the fact that he is part of a streak that makes this the 46th consecutive year in which a former teammate of Jaromir Jagr’s is playing in the Cup Final. Andersson and Carolina forward Mark Jankowski played alongside the Czechia star for his final NHL season in Calgary in 2017-18.
“Ya, that was a long time ago,” Andersson smiled.
“I remember I was on the ice for his last-ever NHL goal, and that’s pretty cool. It’s obviously cool that I played with him. He’s a guy that dictates his own way, put it that way. He spent a lot of time at the gym and loved being at the rink. I guess it’s cool in some way that the streak still lives on.”.
When a best-of-seven final is tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner goes on to win the series nearly 80 per cent of the time — 24-7, or 77.4 per cent.
Even the league’s tracking sticks to the details. Brett Howden and Jankowski had goals in Game 2, which featured alley-oop assists by Mitch Marner and Eric Robinson. Marner’s helper covered 91.3 feet while airborne and had a max height of 24.0 feet. Robinson’s spanned 82.2 feet in the air with an apex of 19.7 feet.
Before the puck drops, the evening already has its own momentum. Grammy-nominated multi-platinum artist. producer and songwriter Illenium will headline a free concert at Toshiba Plaza outside T-Mobile Arena. two hours before the 5 p.m. local puck drop. The temperature for the concert is expected to be 39 Celsius.
Carolina’s Game 3 lineup is:
Svechnikov – Aho – Jarvis
Hall – Stankoven – Blake
Ehlers – Staal – Martinook
Carrier – Jankowski – Robinson
Slavin – Chatfield
Miller – Walker
Gostisbehere – Nikishin
Barbashev – Eichel – Dorofeyev
Howden – Karlsson – Marner
Hertl – Sissons – Stone
Smith – Dowd – Kolesar
Coghlan/McNabb – Theodore
Hanifin – Andersson
Coghlan/Korczak – Lauzon
Game 3 begins with one crucial question hanging over the Golden Knights: will McNabb be back—or will Theodore and the depth defense again have to carry the weight before the series shifts fully home?
Golden Knights Brayden McNabb John Tortorella Game 3 Stanley Cup Final Shea Theodore Kaedan Korczak Dylan Coghlan Hurricanes Freddy Andersen Rod Brind'Amour