Golden Knights’ Tomas Hertl drops ‘King Kong’ truth bomb after breaking scoring slump

The Vegas Golden Knights won Game 5 against the Anaheim Ducks in overtime thanks to Pavel Dorofeyev. They played that game without Mark Stone, which meant other forwards needed to step up with the series tied at two. Tomas Hertl had not scored in the Stanley Cup Playoffs until Game 4, and then scored a big one for the Golden Knights in Game 5. He spoke with NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika about breaking the drought.

“It’s tough when you don’t score for so long,” Hertl said. “It’s nice to get monkey from my back. It wasn’t even monkey. It was like King Kong. Everybody (is) human. It’s in your head.”

Hertl went 29 games between goals, a drought dating back to March 4. That stalled his season production at 24 goals, which is eight fewer than he had last year in nine more games. But the only thing that matters for the Golden Knights is the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as they look for their second Stanley Cup Championship. It took him nine games in the postseason, but now he has goals in two straight games.

The Golden Knights have the Ducks on the ropes, headed back to Anaheim for Game 6. This has been a tight series, one that no one would be surprised to see go to a seventh game. But when they were in the same situation against the Utah Mammoth in the first round, the Golden Knights won Game 6 on the road 5-1. With Hertl going offensively, they have that chance on Thursday.

Hertl was traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Golden Knights at the 2024 trade deadline. In his time with both clubs, he has 53 points in 91 playoff games, including 30 goals. Vegas needs that production to come through to get back to the Stanley Cup Final. The Colorado Avalanche look unbeatable, and that’s who awaits in the next round. But first, they have to dispose of the Ducks.

Game 6 between the Ducks and Golden Knights is on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time.

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