LAS VEGAS — By now, it should be clearly evident to anyone watching this Stanley Cup Final that no lead is safe. There’s no room for comfort. And the word panic has been eliminated from the vocabulary of both the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes.
The chaos that has been the Cup Final continued Tuesday with Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena. By now, we should be used to the twists and turns, the crazy bounces, the near misses and the occasional brilliance that has defined the series.
In the end, it was Carolina that prevailed in yet another wild affair, 5-3, to draw even in the series at 2-2. The always-pivotal Game 5 will be Thursday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh in what has now become a best-of-3 battle.
“We battled back but we’ll regroup and get ready for the next one,” Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said.
The Knights better figure out a way to slow down if not stop Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal or he may be the one accepting the Cup from commissioner Gary Bettman as well as taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. He had two goals Tuesday, including the game-winner, scoring while falling down and beating Carter Hart with 6:32 gone in the third period.
“It’s a good thing, no question,” Staal said of his goal-scoring exploits (he has five in the Final through four games, having scored in each game). “The puck’s going in right now so I’ll take it.”
Tortorella said: “Staal is killing us in front of the net. We need to do a better job around the blue.”
Down in the series and needing a spark, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour changed goalies, replacing Frederik Andersen with Brandon Bussi, who took over to start the third period in Game 3 and played well only to lose in double overtime on a bad bounce off the T-Mobile end boards.
It was working. For a while anyway. This time, the Canes got the fortuitous bounce less than two minutes into Game 4 as the puck caromed off the end boards before Hart could corral it. It wound up on the stick of Logan Stankoven and ultimately in the Vegas net.
“It’s hard to get game reps in practice,” Bussi said, who was the fortunate beneficiary when Brayden McNabb’s apparent goal at the end of the first period was taken off the board after it was determined the puck went in after time had expired. “So I think it helped to have played (in Game 3).”
But if we’ve learned anything in this series, it’s that a two-goal lead is anything but safe. The Canes had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 only to watch the Knights rally, as has been their custom throughout the season.
William Karlsson made it 3-2 early in the second period. Later in the period, Brett Howden tied it 3-3, setting a team record in the process with his 14th playoff goal. Jonathan Marchessault had 13 in 2023, the year Vegas won the Cup.
In each game so far, the Knights have had the better of things during the middle stanza. The Canes have found their second gear in the second part of the third period. This
The chaos that has been the Cup Final continued Tuesday with Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena. By now, we should be used to the twists and turns, the crazy bounces, the near misses and the occasional brilliance that has defined the series.
In the end, it was Carolina that prevailed in yet another wild affair, 5-3, to draw even in the series at 2-2. The always-pivotal Game 5 will be Thursday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh in what has now become a best-of-3 battle.
“We battled back but we’ll regroup and get ready for the next one,” Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said.
The Knights better figure out a way to slow down if not stop Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal or he may be the one accepting the Cup from commissioner Gary Bettman as well as taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. He had two goals Tuesday, including the game-winner, scoring while falling down and beating Carter Hart with 6:32 gone in the third period.
“It’s a good thing, no question,” Staal said of his goal-scoring exploits (he has five in the Final through four games, having scored in each game). “The puck’s going in right now so I’ll take it.”
Tortorella said: “Staal is killing us in front of the net. We need to do a better job around the blue.”
Down in the series and needing a spark, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour changed goalies, replacing Frederik Andersen with Brandon Bussi, who took over to start the third period in Game 3 and played well only to lose in double overtime on a bad bounce off the T-Mobile end boards.
It was working. For a while anyway. This time, the Canes got the fortuitous bounce less than two minutes into Game 4 as the puck caromed off the end boards before Hart could corral it. It wound up on the stick of Logan Stankoven and ultimately in the Vegas net.
“It’s hard to get game reps in practice,” Bussi said, who was the fortunate beneficiary when Brayden McNabb’s apparent goal at the end of the first period was taken off the board after it was determined the puck went in after time had expired. “So I think it helped to have played (in Game 3).”
But if we’ve learned anything in this series, it’s that a two-goal lead is anything but safe. The Canes had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 only to watch the Knights rally, as has been their custom throughout the season.
William Karlsson made it 3-2 early in the second period. Later in the period, Brett Howden tied it 3-3, setting a team record in the process with his 14th playoff goal. Jonathan Marchessault had 13 in 2023, the year Vegas won the Cup.
In each game so far, the Knights have had the better of things during the middle stanza. The Canes have found their second gear in the second part of the third period. This
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