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This Stanley Cup Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights has been one of the wildest in recent memory, if not ever.
After four thrillers, including two insane games in Vegas, the series shifted back to Raleigh for Game 5, with the two teams tied 2-2.
This was one of the slower starts in a series filled with fast runs, but one thing that has been constant throughout? Self-inflicted penalties.
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Vegas’ Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring in Game 5 with a power play goal. (James Guillory-Imagn Photos)
The Hurricanes were whistled to one just minutes before the halfway point in the first period when Nikolaj Ehlers shot a puck over the glass, and it didn’t take long for Vegas to make them pay.
Golden Knights forward Pavel Dorofeyev took advantage of the ensuing power play and buried Vegas’ first shot of the night off a great feed from Jack Eichel.
But just minutes later, Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal — who is in the Cup Final of his life — extended his scoring streak to five games on a smart redirection off a pass from Ehlers (redemption!) to even things up.
It tied the record for the longest scoring streak in Stanley Cup Final history. Staal had just two goals this postseason before the streak started.
Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal tied a Stanley Cup Finals record by scoring in five straight games in this series. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
Carolina opened the second period and killed another penalty — another delay-of-game violation, if you can believe it — but it was back-to-back Vegas penalties that led to a Hurricanes goal.
Just a second after the Golden Knights killed a Jeremy Lauzon roughing penalty, Brayden McNabb took a reckless cross-checking penalty to send Carolina back on the power play.
That’s when Andrei Svechnikov gave the Canes a 2-1 lead.
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Svechnikov was one of the big guns for the Canes to find the post. The other one? Sebastian Aho, and he did 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.
On to the third where the story continued to be the Golden Knights taking bad penalties, something that is wildly out of character for them.
This time it was their captain Mark Stone who clipped Carolina’s Jalen Chatfield with a high stick. Worse, he caught him enough to draw blood and earned himself a double minor.
One the Hurricanes converted with Svechnikov scoring his second of the night to give them a 4-1 lead.
If you’ve watched any of this series, you’ll know that nothing comes easy, and not long after Carolina extended their lead, Dorofeyev got his second of the game to cut the deficit to two.
Then, in what has happened in nearly every game in this series, that goal sparked a frantic Vegas push that resulted in multiple scoring chances.
Carolina held on, but with just 2:13 left, Nikolaj Ehlers was whistled for delay-of-game.
Vegas then pulled the goaltender for a 6-on-4 power play.
The Golden Knights lined up and had some big chances, including one to Tomas Hertl that was robbed by Bussi — who had 22 saves on 24 shots — with 80 seconds left in regulation.
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The late penalty kill gave the Canes carte blanche to take 200-foot shots on the empty net, and that helped bleed time off the clock and help them hold onto that 4-2 lead.
Carolina now leads the series 3-2 as it shifts back to Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Sunday, where the Hurricanes will have a chance to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.
