HC John Tortorella says Vegas, pushed to brink, not done yet - ESPN

RALEIGH, N.C. — Vegas Golden Knights coach John Tortorella vowed that the Stanley Cup Final would return to Raleigh for Game 7 after the Carolina Hurricanes pushed his team to the brink of elimination.

«We'll be back here. We're just going to do it in a different order,» Tortorella said after the Golden Knights' 4-2 loss in Game 5 on Thursday night, putting them down 3-2 in the series to the Hurricanes. «I'm going to leave my clothes here. That's for sure. They'll be in the hotel.»

Vegas will have to beat the odds if it is to rally for the Stanley Cup. The winner of Game 5 in a Cup Final tied at 2-2 has gone on win the series nearly 75% of the time. When a home team wins Game 5, as Carolina did Thursday night, that winning percentage increases to 80%. Teams that go up 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final have a 37-8 series record and have won 10 straight series.

Game 6 is Sunday night in Las Vegas.

«We've done it the hard way all year, so why not do it again?» said Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb, his nose stitched up from taking a puck to the face in Game 2. «We've got to win Game 6. That's the mindset.»

Center Jack Eichel called his team «a resilient group» and that the players' sole focus was preparing for Game 6 and «going home in a must-win situation.»

Determined as they are, there are some growing concerns for the Golden Knights, who lost consecutive contests for the first time since Games 2 and 3 in the first round against the Utah Mammoth.

The most prominent one is the loss of key center William Karlsson. He took a hard hit from Carolina defenseman Sean Walker in the second period. After a trainer examined his left arm, Karlsson left the ice. ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported that Karlsson left the arena for evaluation and