LAS VEGAS — John Tortorella rarely feels the need to explain himself or his decisions.

And in this case, he didn’t have to.

There will be no change in net Sunday, as the Golden Knights stick with Carter Hart in a game they must win to prevent Carolina from hoisting the Stanley Cup.

However, this time the coach decided to give several reasons.

"Because I know him," he offered up Saturday.

His gut, and the fact that Hart was so good in the first three rounds, tells him the embattled netminder will snap out of a spell in which he’s allowed four goals in all five games of the Stanley Cup final.

"I know there's a better game in him," said Tortorella.

"I've seen it throughout the playoffs. I think he's a very good goalie. We've got to do a better job around him, too. You can look at the numbers — that's what you guys do, you spit out those numbers, but I've got to look at things differently and watch the play around him and the type of goals being scored."

Right on cue, here are the troubling digits posted by Hart in the final: a 3.70 goals-against average and an .856 save percentage.

Tortorella’s option, backup Adin Hill, hasn’t played in months because his regular season was a nightmare, which included a 10-9-6 record, a 3.04 GAA and an .871 save percentage.

When asked if he........

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