John Tortorella lost more than the Stanley Cup Sunday night. He may have lost some clothes as well after his Game 7 guarantee aged poorly once again.
After Game 5, Tortorella had full confidence his Vegas Golden Knights would force a Game 7 and return to Lenovo Center after going down 3-2 in the series.
How confident was he?
“I’m going to leave my clothes [in Raleigh], that’s for sure,” the brash head coach said after the game on Thursday. “They’ll be in the hotel.”
But, there will be no Game 7, as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Golden Knights 3-0 in Game 6 to become Stanley Cup champions.
Thankfully for Tortorella, the Canes are on the case. While he can’t do anything about the Cup he lost, the new champions reassured that they’ll send him his stranded clothes (once they’re done celebrating).
This isn’t the first time Tortorella has failed to see correctly into the future, with similar situations in 2018 and 2019.
In the first round against the Washington Capitals in 2018, Tortorella guaranteed a Game 7 after the Columbus Blue Jackets, who he was coaching at the time, went down 3-2 after Game 5.
“We’ll be back here for Game 7,” he said after their 4-3 overtime loss in Game 5.
His guarantee fell through when the Washington Capitals won 6-3 in Game 6 to clinch the series. They then went on to win their first Stanley Cup.
A season later, he made the same claim during the Blue Jackets’ 2019 second-round matchup against the Boston Bruins.
“Things happen for a reason. And I truly believe that. We’ll be back here for Game 7,” he said after his squad went down 3-2 in the series.
Oops. Wrong again. The Boston Bruins won Game 6, 3-0, to advance to the Conference Finals and send Columbus home.
Tortorella clearly did not learn from his past jinxes, and this year’s ante upping may have lost him his some of his wardrobe.
Not only that, Tortorella’s NHL future is now up in the air. He was only contracted to be the bench boss with Vegas until the end of the season, which has arrived. During Sunday’s postgame media he didn’t provide any clarity about his potential return when asked.
“Oh I haven’t even — I mean, I got to swallow this a little bit,” he said.
