The Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights were initially scheduled to take the ice on Wednesday night to play Game 7. The Canes wanted no part of that, making sure that the Stanley Cup Final ended in six games on Sunday night, claiming their second Stanley Cup in franchise history. They left nothing to chance, putting it all on the line to get the job done.
Before each of their four series, we laid out five keys for the team to follow against each of their opponents. Vegas was no exception. We outlined five things to help the Canes beat the Golden Knights, and the team listened. At least, they did after Game 3. For the fourth and final time, here's our assessment of how the team did.
1. Marner scored early but went down quietly with his team
Mitch Marner and Jack Eichel finished 1-2 in points during the postseason, with Marner pulling away because of his work early in this series. He had three points in the first two games before an explosive four-point performance in Game 3. After that, Marner had just one point over the final three games, while Eichel was held to four assists in the entire series. It continued a trend we saw all postseason.
Opponent | Notable Performances (G-A-P) |
|---|---|
Ottawa | Stutzle: 0-1-1 |
Philadelphia | Zegras: 1-1-2 |
Montreal | Slafkovsky: 2-1-3 (0 points after Game 1) |
Vegas | Marner: 3-5-8 (0-1-1 after Game 3) |
As you can see in the above chart, the Canes did a good job of ensuring their opponents' stars were non-factors for most or all of each series. Marner had more points than anyone else against the Canes this postseason, but even he had a tough time when the Canes were at their best. That's not to mention the lackluster performances of Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev, too.
2. Scoring never became an issue against Hart, Vegas' defense
Usually, we're worried about the Canes' offense drying up in the Eastern Conference Finals, so this was new territory for all of us. When Nikolaj Ehlers scored 25 seconds into Game 1 and the goals kept coming, there was a sense of relief that this might actually be different. The Canes finished the series with 24 goals in six games, good enough for exactly four per game.
22 of those were against Carter Hart, who earned a dubious honor during the Stanley Cup Final. He was the first to allow four or more goals in the first four games of the Cup Final. Then, he allowed four more in Game 5 to become the first to do so in five straight. After posting a .922 save percentage and a 2.22 GAA through three rounds, Hart had a 3.45 GAA and a .863 save percentage in the Final.
3. The Canes had few problems handling Vegas' defenders
It initially felt as if Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb were going to be massive concerns early in the series. They each had three points in Game 1. Then, they each had multi-point games in Game 3, with McNabb, who was playing through a broken nose that he suffered in Game 2, setting up Theodore for the game-winner in 2OT to take a 2-1 series lead.
After that, like the rest of their team, they were quiet in the final three games. They combined for three assists the rest of the way, which is still more points than the rest of their defense had during the entire series. Noah Hanifin and Rasmus Andersson had an assist each, while the final two spots rotated during the series. Jeremy Lauzon had 25 hits but was a -5. The Canes had a decided edge.
4. Special teams were owned by the Hurricanes
Speaking of decided edges, let's talk about the masterclass that the Hurricanes put on display while both up and down a man. During the regular season, Vegas was Top 7 on both the power play and penalty kill. They'd also been very good in both respects during the playoffs, buzzing on the power play and a significant threat to score while short-handed with a league-high four short-handed goals.
In six games, the Canes outscored Vegas 6-2 on the power play, putting forth a pair of multi-goal efforts in Games 2 and 5. At one point, the Canes converted on six of their 12 attempts. Meanwhile, Vegas managed just a pair of goals, and they didn't generate many good chances. Carolina finished the postseason with a 91.5 percent kill rate, second only to Boston, which lost in the first round.
5. Their lack of experience was rarely a concern beyond Game 3
The last thing I said when laying out these keys at the beginning of June was that the Hurricanes can't allow themselves to be blinded by the moment. Now that it's all said and done, I don't think the moment was too bright for them, though there were times when it felt like it. In Game 1, Vegas' comeback felt like an experienced team beating an inexperienced one, as did their push in Game 3.
The last seven periods of this series felt like the Hurricanes taking complete control of the situation. They outscored Vegas 2-0 in the third period of Game 4 to even the series. After that, the Canes trailed for less than five minutes in the final two games. No matter how much experience Vegas had coming into it, the Canes didn't care. The Stanley Cup would be theirs, one way or another.
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