Hurricanes beat Golden Knights in Game 5 to take 3-2 Stanley Cup Final lead
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This Stanley Cup Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights was one of the craziest finals in recent memory, if not ever.
After four thrillers, including two wild games in Vegas, the series returned to Raleigh for Game 5, where the two teams tied 2-2.
This was one of the slower starts in a series full of quick hits, but is there one thing that’s constant throughout? Self-imposed penalties.
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Vegas’ Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring with a power-play goal in Game 5. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)
The Hurricanes whistle blew moments before the midway point of the first period when Nikolaj Ehlers fired a puck over the glass, and it didn’t take long for Vegas to pay the price.
Golden Knights forward Pavel Dorofeyev took advantage of the ensuing power play and buried Vegas’ first shot of the night behind a terrific feed from Jack Eichel.
But just minutes later, Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal, in the Cup Final of his life, tied the scoring streak on a pass from Ehlers (redemption!), extending his scoring streak to five games.
This tied the record for the longest goal streak in Stanley Cup Final history. Before the series started, Staal had just two goals this season.
Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal tied the Stanley Cup Final record by scoring a goal in five consecutive games in this series. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
Carolina opened the second period with another penalty — another delay-of-game violation, if you can believe it — but it was back-to-back Vegas penalties that led to the Hurricanes’ goal.
Just one second after the Golden Knights killed Jeremy Lauzon’s rough penalty, Brayden McNabb took an ill-advised cross-checking penalty to send Carolina back to the power play.
That’s when Andrei Svechnikov gave the Canes a 2-1 lead.
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Svechnikov was one of the Canes’ most important weapons that needed to find the goal. The other one? Sebastian Aho and he did it just a few minutes later.
As if things weren’t bad enough for the Golden Knights in the second frame, one of their key players, William Karlsson, left the game and did not return.
Third, the story continues with the Golden Knights taking bad penalties, something that is extremely out of character for them.
This time, it was their captain, Mark Stone, who high-sticked Carolina’s Jalen Chatfield. Worse, he caught him enough to draw blood and earn himself a double minor.
The Hurricanes came back with Svechnikov scoring his second goal of the night to put them up 4-1.
If you’ve watched any of these series, you know that nothing ever comes easy, and shortly after Carolina maintained its lead, Dorofeyev made his second drive of the game to cut the lead to two.
What then happened in almost every game in that series was that goal triggered a red-hot Vegas push that resulted in multiple scoring chances.
Carolina held on, but with just 2:13 remaining, Nikolaj Ehlers was whistled for delay of game.
Vegas then went on a 6-on-4 power play by pulling the goaltender.
The Golden Knights prepared and had great chances; That included Tomas Hertl, who was robbed with 80 seconds left in regulation by Bussi, who made 22 saves on 24 shots.
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The late penalty kick gave the Canes carte blanche to launch 200-yard shots into the empty goal, which helped them waste time and maintain a 4-2 lead.
Carolina leads the series 3-2 as it returns to Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Sunday; here the Hurricanes will have a chance to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.
