William Karlsson won't play, and John Tortorella just confirmed the Golden Knights are staring at their biggest problem of the Stanley Cup Final.
Vegas will be without one of its most important forwards for Game 6, and the timing couldn't be worse.
The Golden Knights are facing elimination, which turns Karlsson's absence from a lineup change into a major swing.
Tortorella confirmed the immediate blow on Saturday when he said Karlsson will miss Game 6.
That alone changes the look of Vegas down the middle and puts even more pressure on the rest of the forward group.
What he didn't confirm was almost as telling.
Tortorella stopped short of ruling Karlsson out for a potential Game 7, but the picture around the situation already looks bleak.
Insiders now believe Karlsson has already played his last game of these playoffs.
That's the part Vegas has to confront, even without an official final ruling from the bench.
Jesse Granger reported that it is “clear” Karlsson will miss the rest of the Stanley Cup Final.
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For a team trying to push the series one more night, that's a brutal development.
Vegas loses a core piece in William
Karlsson at the worst time
Karlsson was hurt after taking a heavy hit from Carolina defenseman Sean Walker in Game 5.
The contact appeared to drive Karlsson's left arm into the boards, and the reaction was immediate.
He was seen favoring that arm as trainers worked on him on the bench area. Not long after, he was forced to leave the game because of the injury.
That sequence now looks even bigger than it did in the moment. Vegas didn't just lose a player for a night.
It may have lost a trusted piece for the remainder of the final.
That matters because Karlsson isn't a fringe option or a spare part.
He's one of the forwards the Golden Knights lean on when the game gets tight and the pressure starts to build.
Now Vegas has to answer in Game 6 without him, with no margin left. One loss ends the season.
And if the Golden Knights can't replace Karlsson's minutes, this injury may be remembered as the turning point of the final.
Will the Golden Knights force Game 7 without William Karlsson?
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