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Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson (71) skates past Anaheim Ducks right wing Beckett Sennecke (45) during the first period of Game 2 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Photo by: Steve Marcus
By Case Keefer (contact)
Thursday, May 14, 2026 | 2 a.m.
As William Karlsson closed in on a return to the ice for the first time in six months at the onset of the Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, coach John Tortorella pleaded patience.
Tortorella cautioned that the 33-year-old veteran could have some rust and might need a game or two at minimum to get back up to full speed. Karlsson was less concerned with an adjustment period.
“A (hat trick), six assists, something like that,” Karlsson said with a smirk when asked his expectations for his first game back since suffering an undisclosed lower-body injury Nov. 8.
Neither extreme played out in the fan favorite, original Golden Knight’s first five games back, but Karlsson’s play has more closely mirrored his own optimism than his coach’s pragmatism.
He failed to score a goal in the stretch but created several dangerous chances, banked two primary assists, and looked to be in vintage, lockdown form defensively. With the Golden Knights recording strong possession metrics with “Wild Bill” on the ice, he’s already reestablished himself as one of the team’s best forwards.
Karlsson, who’s scored the third-most postseason goals (31) in franchise history behind captain Mark Stone and 2023 Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault, finds himself back in a familiar situation. He’ll have an outsize impact on how far Vegas can go in the postseason up three games to two over Anaheim in the best-of-seven series.
Game 6 is set for 6:30 tonight at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
“It’s the playoffs, so there’s no waiting around and easing in,” Karlsson said. “You’ve got to get into it.”
Tortorella seems to have come around on that thinking too, nearly doubling Karlsson’s ice time in Games 3 and 4 after giving him only 11 minutes in his debut. He also moved Karlsson up to the second line alongside Mitch Marner and Brett Howden midway through Game 2 and has stuck with the trio.
Karlsson had one of the prettiest assists of the postseason in a 4-3 Game 4 loss when he stopped on a dime behind the net and backhanded the puck to Howden right in front of Anaheim’s net. In Game 3, Karlsson drew attention to himself in a similar spot before dropping a no-look pass that Marner finished to complete a natural hat trick in a blowout 6-2 win.
“It’s been really easy to play with him,” Marner said of Karlsson. “He makes a lot of great plays. It seems like he’s always in a great spot defensively with his feet and his stick.”
Tortorella openly marvels at the player Karlsson has become in nine seasons with the Golden Knights. The pair were together for three seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2014-2017.
Tortorella was among the Blue Jackets’ decision-makers that struck a deal with Vegas to take Karlsson in the expansion draft. Karlsson scored a franchise-record 43 goals in his first season in Las Vegas.
“I called Bill and said, ‘Did I screw up?,’” Tortorella reflected. “Because I’m not sure what he had for stats with us (in Columbus). We had a great conversation and he said, ‘No, everything I’m shooting is going in the net.’”
Many were skeptical Karlsson would play again this season, but he began traveling with the team for the first-round series against Utah and practicing with the affiliate Henderson Silver Knights. That got him on track to be a constant against the Ducks.
Vegas is looking to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the fifth time in franchise history, and like all the previous trips, it will need Karlsson at his best to get there.
“It’s been a long journey but now I’m here,” he said. “I always had the goal in the back of my head that I wanted to return, and I always believed, so that kind of helped me along.”
This story originally appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
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