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 time, the Knights made a push to take the lead during an early-period power play.
Jack Eichel hit the crossbar. Pavel Dorofeyev had Bussi beat at the left post but he caught a rolling puck and couldn't get enough on the shot to put it home. Mark Stone had a great redirect chance that failed to find the net and Theodore snuck in from the blind side and had a clean look but couldn't beat Bussi.
The team that wins does so by taking advantage of the opposition’s mistakes, which is what usually happens. The Knights had a few miscues and virtually all of them resulted in the puck going in their net. And when they had their chances to score, they were unable to capitalize at the key moment.
Staal’s game-winner was a case in point as Theodore, the hero of Game 3, turned it over trying to clear the puck out of his end. Nik Ehlers wound up with it and Hart made a big save to stop him. But the puck found its way to Staal and as he was losing his balance and falling to the ice, he swiped at the puck and it went by Hart and in.
“We’ve got to make better decisions, myself included,” Theodore said of the turnovers and mistakes Vegas made in its end of the ice.
For the Knights, the chance for redemption will come quickly. They’ll fly to Raleigh Wednesday and play Thursday knowing there’s a Game 6 at T-Mobile Arena Sunday. Whether it will be with a 3-2 lead or a 3-2 deficit will likely depend if they can start faster, finish better and put the disappointment of Game 4 behind them. They’ve been a good road team during the postseason and they have a win at the Lenovo Center, having taken Game 1, 5-4.
“We’re playing a good team but I have faith in our team,” Karlsson said.