LAS VEGAS — \u2014 Carolina spent the first part of the Stanley Cup Final surviving, finding ways to overcome deficits and play a high-scoring game that didn’t fit the Hurricanes’ typical style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when it came down to doing what it takes to win the Cup, the Hurricanes’ defense put its stamp on this series, shutting down the\u00a0Vegas Golden Knights\u00a0and not letting up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hurricanes held Vegas to five total goals in Games 4 and 5 and used a suffocating defense in a 3-0 shutout in Sunday night’s clinching Game 6 to win their first championship in 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of years,\u201d said Carolina center\u00a0Jordan Staal, who received the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. “It\u2019s amazing. This is something I\u2019ve been going after ever since we got the first one. You want to win it again and again and again. What a feeling, what a battle. The boys were grinding today, my goodness. So many individual efforts just to keep the puck out of our net. It was an amazing ride. I\u2019m just so proud of these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brandon Bussi, who entrance late into Game 3 helped turn around the series for Carolina, recorded his first career playoff shutout in stopping 22 shots.\u00a0Jackson Blake\u00a0had a goal and assist, and\u00a0Taylor Hall\u00a0scored just 3:47 into the game to set the tone.\u00a0Nikolaj Ehlers\u00a0added an empty-net goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour mind wanders the last couple of days and wonder what it may be like out here (on ice after winning) and it\u2019s better than I could have expected,” Hall said. “My career has taken a lot of different turns, but to end up here with this group of guys and to do this is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Golden Knights, who made an unlikely run just to reach the final, struggled badly to muster any kind of offense in Game 6 and went 18:37 between shots on goal in the second and third periods. Playing in their third Cup final, this is the first time they have been shut out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This clinching game was what many observers expected the series to be like between the defensive-minded teams, but each side watched leads of two-plus goals disappear in the first three games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, the Cup belongs to the Hurricanes, led by coach Rod Brind’Amour, who also captained Carolina to its 2006 title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the first game of the series that Vegas goalie\u00a0Carter Hart\u00a0didn’t allow four goals in a game. He finished with 20 saves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hurricanes began to assume control of the series after falling behind by the score of 4-0 in Game 3. They came back force overtime, and though the Canes lost, they outplayed the Golden Knights from there on out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reflecting the do-or-die situation for the Golden Knights, they made several lineup changes, with\u00a0Brett Howden\u00a0replacing the injured\u00a0William Karlsson\u00a0at second-line center.\u00a0Mitch Marner\u00a0could have moved there, but remained at right wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Original Golden Knight\u00a0Reilly Smith\u00a0made his Cup final debut at third-line right wing, and\u00a0Braeden Bowman\u00a0made his playoff debut at fourth-line right wing.\u00a0Kaedan Korczak\u00a0replaced Dyland Coghlan on the third defensive pairing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This title is a testament to Carolina\u2019s resilience as a franchise that kept coming close to winning the Eastern Conference, but couldn\u2019t quite get through until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brind\u2019Amour made sure the Hurricanes kept getting back up after losing in the conference final twice in the past three years and three times in their current eight-year playoff run. The talent was clearly there, but there was always a stumbling block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After\u00a0dispatching Montreal in five games\u00a0to make the final, the Brind\u2019Amour-led Hurricanes then faced perennial power Vegas and took care of business there, too. Now, he will get his name on the Cup for the second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So will 37-year-old Staal, who also won the title in 2009 with Pittsburgh. He planted himself in front of Hart and dared the Golden Knights to knock him out of the way. Staal scored in each of the first five Cup final games, the first time that has happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hurricanes got off to a fast start with a goal just 25 seconds into Game 1, only to lose 5-4 on a late goal from\u00a0Tomas Hertl. And the Golden Knights were on the verge of taking complete control as minutes ticked down in Game 2 while holding a 2-0 lead and appearing as if they would take a two-game advantage back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, it all changed. Carolina showed a fight that not only brought the Hurricanes back into the series by rallying\u00a0to win 4-3 in overtime on Seth Jarvis\u2019 one-timer, but would serve as their signature throughout the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was especially true the following game when the Golden Knights took a 4-0 lead into the third period and the Canes seemed to have no answers. Brind\u2019Amour even appeared to wave the white flag by removing\u00a0goalie\u00a0Frederik Andersen\u00a0and replacing him with Bussi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Hurricanes weren\u2019t simply trying to get to Game 4. They sent a message, going on a remarkable rally to force overtime. Though Carolina lost, it was inflection point, with Bussi backstopping a team that was only growing stronger. Carolina then went on to win the next two games and moved within a victory of the championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hurricanes got it done against the Golden Knights team that was on a heater after\u00a0John Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy\u00a0with eight games left in the regular season. Vegas then went from third in the Pacific Division to first, knocked off Utah and Anaheim in six games apiece in the playoffs and\u00a0shockingly swept Presidents\u2019 Trophy-winning Colorado\u00a0to win the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, the Golden Knights have some notable questions to ask, including at the top of the list whether to make Tortorella a full-time coach. He didn\u2019t have any guarantees of coaching in Vegas beyond this season, but getting to the Cup final is a good argument to run it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Golden Knights management will make the final call on that, and they don\u2019t always follow league norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAS VEGAS — \u2014 Carolina spent the first part of the Stanley Cup Final surviving, finding ways to overcome deficits and play a high-scoring game that didn’t fit the Hurricanes’ typical style. But when it came down to doing what it takes to win the Cup, the Hurricanes’ defense put its stamp on this series, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416207,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416206\/revisions\/416207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}