Knights face Canucks, hope coaching change ignites turnaround

The Vegas Golden Knights will have a new man behind the bench when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night in Las Vegas.

Sputtering to the finish line with three consecutive losses, six in their last seven games and 12 in their last 16, the Golden Knights announced Sunday afternoon that they were relieving head coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties and replacing him with John Tortorella.

"With the stretch run of the 2025-26 regular-season upon us, we believe that a change is necessary for us to return to the level of play expected of our club," Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said in a statement. "With John Tortorella, we bring in a Stanley Cup champion as well as one of the most respected coaches in the NHL. His guidance will be a great asset to our team at the pivotal point in the season we currently face."

Tortorella, who has been a TV studio analyst for ESPN this season, has served as a head coach in the NHL for 23 seasons, most recently with the Philadelphia Flyers (2022-25). He has coached 1,620 NHL games, which ranks sixth all-time, and his 770 wins rank ninth all-time. A two-time Jack Adams Award winner as the top coach in the NHL, Tortorella also coached Tampa Bay to a Stanley Cup victory in 2004.

The timing to take over for Cassidy, who coached the Golden Knights to the 2023 Stanley Cup, probably couldn't have come at a better moment for Tortorella. Check out the remaining schedule.

Six of the last eight games are against teams currently out of the playoffs, including two against the league's worst team, the Canucks.

Vegas (32-26-16, 80 points), third in the Pacific Division and four points above the playoff line, plays Vancouver (21-43-8, 50 points) twice in its next four games.

The Golden Knights come in off back-to-back home losses in extra time, losing to second-place Edmonton 4-3 in overtime on Thursday and 5-4 in a shootout to the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

That's two dropped points in just three days for Vegas, which trails the Oilers by three points in the battle for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Vegas fell behind 3-0 for the eighth time in 16 games, but rebounded to score four consecutive goals, including two short-handed scores just 25 seconds apart by Nic Dowd and Rasmus Andersson, to take a 4-3 lead in the third period. But Dylan Strome tied it with a power-play goal midway through the period, then scored the game-winner in the shootout, roofing a backhand shot past Adin Hill.

Andersson was blunt afterward about his team blowing another chance at a win.

"I mean, we need two points," he said. "There's no sugar-coating it. We need two points. You know, it's unfortunate that we gotta chase the game again. We did a good job coming back."

Vancouver would seem to be the perfect "get right" game for the Golden Knights. The rebuilding Canucks have lost five in a row, getting outscored 25-9 in the process, and come in off a 7-3 loss at Calgary on Saturday that saw them fall behind 5-1 in the first 25 minutes.

"We've got to play better defense, all of the guys," said center Elias Pettersson, who had two assists. "Too many chances scored on. I thought we played pretty good offense; can't believe we gave up that many on defense."

The Canucks have allowed a league-high 271 goals while scoring just 180, fewest in the NHL.

This is the second of three meetings. Vegas, behind a goal and an assist from Jack Eichel, won the first one 5-2 on Feb. 4 in Las Vegas.

--Field Level Media