TC Martin

Carolina Wins, One Game Away From Cup

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The Vegas Golden Knights picked the wrong night to get careless and overly aggressive.  The Knights put themselves in a difficult position committing four penalties including a costly double minor that enabled the Carolina Hurricanes to score two power play goals and win Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals 4-2.  ​

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The victory puts Carolina in prime position to win the Stanley Cup needing only one more win to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup.  

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Game 5 went much differently than any of the previous games.  The flow and scoring was back and forth with crazy consecutive goal runs by both teams but this game was all Carolina from the start. 

 

The first two periods were the inverse of what we have become used to in this series. This time, it was Vegas outshooting Carolina in the first, and the Golden Knights broke the ice on the power play thanks to a Jack Eichel making a beautiful dish to Pavel Dorofeyev. 

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After that it was all Carolina.  The Canes evened the score with Nikolaj Ehlers making a perfect pass to Jordan Staal, who tipped the puck past Carter Hart. Staal's five-game goal-scoring streak tied the NHL record for the longest in a Stanley Cup final. The last time someone achieved that feat was Yvan Cournoyer in 1973.

 

Continuing the script-flipping, the Canes went on the offensive in the second, which had been their trouble period against Vegas previously. The Golden Knights took two straight unnecessary penalties, one by Jeremy Lauzon and the next by Brayden McNabb. Carolina made them pay on the second, with Svechnikov ripping a shot past Hart that may have been screened by Lauzon. Then Aho took a Sean Walker pass off his skate and roofed one over Hart to give the Canes a 3-1 lead. 

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Hart allowed four goals for a fifth consecutive game in the series.  Defense and penalties have reared its ugly head for the Knights and now they must regroup and win Game 6 to get and opportunity at a chance at Game 7 back in Carolina.. 

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Game 6 will be in Vegas on Sunday where another frenzied crowd is expected to try to will their team to victory and try to extend the series.