It took two games—and a benching—for Pavel Dorofeyev to finally get it going in the postseason. Of course, it also helps to get four goals (nearly got five in Game 4), with one of those being the game-tying goal in Game 5 with less than a minute to go. But someone woke the Russian bear from his deep slumber.
Believe it or not, that man is none other than John Tortorella, the mastermind behind Dorofeyev being benched. Not that that's a bad thing, you know. It lit a fire under the 25-year-old and has Vegas on the verge of the second round.
"Big credit to Dorofeyev. I’ve pushed him along a little bit here, with his game, and he found a way to be a star in a big game."John Tortorella on Pavel Dorofeyev
Remember all that noise about Dorofeyev being, well, scared? Last postseason was certainly the case as he pushed through an injury and only had a goal and an assist. Well, that's certainly not the case anymore since the winger finally found his stroke.
In fact, that couldn't have come at a better time. The last two games were absolute nail-biters where the Mammoth held 4-3 leads late in the game. That's when you need your top scorer to be... your top scorer! Thank goodness that Dorofeyev stepped up at the right time because Vegas would've been eliminated.
Pavel Dorofeyev can't let his foot off the gas for the Vegas Golden Knights to go far in the Stanley Cup playoffs
Fans have noticed that Tomas Hertl hasn't been around much during the postseason. In fact, his Golden Knights tenure hasn't produced much during the postseason in past iterations. We're talking about four goals and four assists in 23 career playoff games with the Golden Knights.
That's where you need players like Dorofeyev to step up. While Vegas has only mustered three power play goals during the series (18 opportunities), the 25-year-old got one of his hat trick goals on the unit. Seeing him step up when players like Hertl go AWOL has been huge. But that's not the most surprising part of his sudden emergence.
The most surprising part has been when Dorofeyev has scored. That power play goal has been the only one he's had all postseason, with the rest coming at even strength. Why is that significant? Well, look at his regular season stats, particularly the power play goals.
Of his team-leading 37 goals in the regular season, Dorofeyev had 20 of those on the power play. Not only did that set a franchise record for the most single-season power play goals, but he was second in the NHL in this category for 2025-26 (Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston had 27 to lead the NHL).
The best part of all this? He has a potential contract extension on the way with his impending RFA status. His growing playoff presence will fetch him more money, all thanks to Tortorella lighting a fire underneath him. Boy, talk about turning a bad situation into something more positive, eh?
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