Benching Key Scorers Worked In Game 4, But Likely Unsustainable

Heading into Game 4, four of Vegas’ top five goal scorers had yet to find the back of the net in the series. The concern level was starting to rise for Pavel Dorofeyev, Tomas Hertl, Mitch Marner, and Jack Eichel as the Golden Knights knew they couldn’t afford to fall into a 3-1 hole.

On the very first shift of the game, that changed for Dorofeyev. Eichel made an excellent play to get the puck into the slot for Ivan Barbashev, and he bumped it over to Dorofeyev to slot into the yawning cage.

At that moment, it appeared the tide was shifting. Dorofeyev had gotten off the schneid, Eichel helped create the goal, and on other lines, Marner and Hertl began looking more and more dangerous.

But, as the game wore on, it became increasingly clear that head coach John Tortorella wasn’t pleased with two of the team’s most important scorers. Dorofeyev carelessly gave a puck away in the defensive zone that led to Utah’s first goal, and Hertl looked more and more innocuous in his shifts with Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar.

I just call them as I see them, as far as who’s playing well at certain times. (Dorofeyev and Hertl are) two very important people for us, but as the game’s being played, I’m just going to call it as I see it as far as who’s going to get that ice time. And we needed to, that’s a very important game for us in a Game 4 (while down 2-1). -Tortorella

Dorofeyev did not take a single shift in the final 13 minutes of regulation and played only two in the entire 3rd period. Hertl played just nine minutes at even strength, didn’t play at all in the last seven minutes of the 3rd period, and lost his spot on the power play. In the final 39 minutes of the 79-minute game, Dorofeyev and Hertl played a combined 6:03.

I’m not going to pick out one guy that was really good, and I’m not going to pick out one guy that was really bad. I thought we played as a team. -Tortorella

It ultimately worked in Game 4 as the Golden Knights came through with the all-important overtime goal to even the series. And, Dorofeyev responded to the limited ice time, coming through with what appeared to be the game-winner before it was ruled offside.

Moving forward, though, not only in the final games of this First Round, but the rest of the postseason if the Golden Knights are to continue, they simply cannot afford to have Dorofeyev and/or Hertl stapled to the bench. The two scored a combined 61 goals this season and raced each other for the team lead for most of the year until Pavel ran away with it.

Goal-scoring is extremely difficult in the playoffs, and the Golden Knights have a couple of guys who have proven they can do it. As long as they are healthy, they have to be allowed to work through the lull and come out the other side.

Game 4 proved Vegas can win without them, but the path forward likely depends on Dorofeyev and Hertl being part of the solution, not spectators to it.