NHL strips Golden Knights of second-round pick, fines Tortorella $100k

[p]Tortella, 67, withheld from the press conference following his team's series-clinching win over the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/anaheim-ducks/4CM4ojpD/"]Anaheim Ducks[/a] on Thursday. The team also closed off their dressing room to outside media for post-game interviews. [/p][p]Forwards [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marner-mitchell/Agmv3YoI/"]Mitch Marner[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/howden-brett/SjH2nDdA/"]Brett Howden[/a] spoke to the media for a brief 10 minutes, during which the former of the two said they only had a short time before Torts and the bus would leave them.[/p][embed guid="c1457396-0442-4bd3-903b-08cd91138514" url="https://x.com/BarDown/status/2055160476800094433?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]In a statement by the NHL, the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/vegas-golden-knights/fTT0TsUg/"]Knights[/a] had been previously warned about violating media regulations. [/p][p]The Knights denied to comment on the harsh penalty. [/p][embed guid="8bd901a0-cc8d-44cc-b859-28abffd00d01" url="https://x.com/GoldenKnights/status/2055389884186345572?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Following their Game 6 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, the Knights now head to the Western Conference Finals, where they'll be taking on the NHL's No. 1 team in the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/colorado-avalanche/hACAnvBa/"]Colorado Avalanche[/a], who beat the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/minnesota-wild/j9Ck7BHi/"]Minnesota Wild[/a] in five games. [/p][p]Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20th.[/p][p]The last time the Golden Knights made the WCF was in 2023, when they went on to win the Stanley Cup Final. [/p][embed guid="9123f316-ff96-400a-a50e-4d72764bdc34" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fk2CDeTzoU&pp=ygUUa25pZ2h0cyBkdWNrcyBnYW1lIDY%3D" social-type="youtube" /]