Hurricanes edge Golden Knights, even series in chaotic Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Takeaways

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LAS VEGAS — This time, the Carolina Hurricanes steered through the chaos — and it was their captain’s hand on the wheel.

Carolina, behind two goals from Jordan Staal, including a remarkable game-winner, beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final and evened the series 2-2 on Tuesday night.

Brandon Bussi, starting in place of Frederik Andersen, made 18 saves on 21 shots, including several key stops down the stretch, and Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-netter on a 200-foot shot, but Carolina held a lead because of Staal, who, at 6:32 of the third period, had the poise and presence of mind to fling a shot past Vegas goaltender Carter Hart despite losing his footing in the low slot.

Silence from the crowd and cheers from his teammates were Staal’s signal that the puck crossed the line. He wound up on his stomach. Once he made it to his feet, his attention turned to closing out the game, the latest wild chapter in what’s already been an all-timer of a Cup Final. Now, it’s a best-of-three.

“That’s all I’ve been focused on,” Staal said. “We’ve just gotta win games, win games. (We’ve got) two more.”

It was the exact sort of play the Hurricanes expect from the 37-year-old. Without him, they’d likely be returning to Lenovo Center for Thursday’s Game 5 down 3-1 in the series.

“He doesn’t get anxious about things,” winger Taylor Hall said of Staal on Monday. “The pressure is there, everyone can feel it and see it. He doesn’t feel it, you know? He doesn’t get nervous.”

“He doesn’t get rattled. He’s never yelling at guys on the ice or the referees. He’s just like, ‘All right, next shift,’ and it’s pretty cool to see.”

Ahead of the finish, Vegas continued its second-period dominance in the series, digging out of a 3-1 hole and making a bit of history in the process; for the first time in Stanley Cup Final history, four games have featured a team rallying from a multi-goal deficit to at least tie the game. The Golden Knights got there via goals from William Karlsson and Brett Howden, who scored his franchise-record and league-leading 14th of the postseason at 17:08 to tie the score 3-3. Vegas has now outscored Carolina 9-1 in the series’ second periods.

“We’re playing a good team,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s not gonna look pretty all 60 minutes.”

For the first time since Game 1, though, the Hurricanes held a lead after the first. Logan Stankoven opened the scoring 66 seconds into the game, gathering a puck that had bounced off the end boards and backhanding it past Hart. Two minutes, 22 seconds later, Jackson Blake put Carolina up 2-0 on a feed from Hall moments after a Vegas penalty had expired.

After Mark Stone cut Carolina’s lead to 2-1 on the Golden Knights’ second shot of the game, Staal banged a power-play rebound past Hart, who allowed four goals on 27 shots. The score was still 3-1 after 20 minutes, but Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb beat Bussi with a shot from the circles that crossed the goal line a fraction of a second after the clock hit zero.

“It’s extremely special. And to be doing that with this group is a lot of fun,” Ehlers said. “Going back home down 3-1 wouldn’t have been a lot of fun. But there’s no quit in this team. And I think we showed that tonight.”

Canes hop on the Bus-si

Bussi became the third goalie since the 1967-68 expansion to make his first career playoff start in a Stanley Cup Final — and the first to win.

Bussi got the nod after stopping 18 of 19 shots in relief of Andersen in Game 3 in the third period and two overtimes. Andersen didn’t dress in Game 4 and was listed as a healthy scratch; Brind’Amour said after the game that Andersen, who’d played every minute of the postseason until Game 3, needed a rest. Pyotr Kochetkov served as backup.

Bussi won 31 of 39 starts in the regular season but lost some steam down the stretch, leading Brind’Amour to go with Andersen, a veteran, in Game 1 of the first round.

“To come in and do what he did is very special,” Blake said of Bussi. “He’s been incredible for our team all year, so we knew what we were going to expect, and we knew what he’s capable of.”

Bussi finished with 18 saves, and if there were any nerves, the Canes did a great job by allowing him to at least settle in with Stankoven and Blake giving him a 2-0 lead less than three and a half minutes into the game. He only faced six first-period shots, his biggest coming on a late power-play robbery of Ivan Barbashev.

The second didn’t go nearly as well for Bussi as Karlsson and Howden scored on two of the Golden Knights’ six shots in the period to tie the score at 3-3 heading into the third, the tying goal coming off a Seth Jarvis turnover and a couple of poor defensive plays by Sean Walker and K’Andre Miller.

Down the stretch, Bussi might have been at his best, stopping all eight shots he faced, including six high-danger chances. He said the work he got in Game 4 helped knock off some rust and that Carolina’s high-intensity practices kept him prepared during his time on the bench.

“I think we’re going to enjoy this one tonight, but come tomorrow morning, we’re focused on Game 5,” he said. “Personally, I feel like I will be able to appreciate this more after the season is over.”

Brind’Amour said he hasn’t yet decided on a Game 5 starter and might not until Thursday. “Whatever happens,” Bussi said, “I’ll be ready to go.” — Russo and Gentille

Staal keeps scoring

After scoring twice in the first 13 games of the playoffs, Staal scored for the fourth consecutive time in the Cup Final and twice overall Tuesday.

He’s the first captain in NHL history to score in his first four games of the Cup Final.

In fact, Staal became the fourth player in the expansion era (since 1968) to record a goal in the first four games of a Cup Final. The others are Mike Bossy (1982 with the New York Islanders), Steve Payne (1981 with the Minnesota North Stars) and Johnny Bucyk (1970 with the Boston Bruins).

In the first period, Staal scored on Shayne Gostisbehere’s rebound, 19 seconds into a first-period power play while camped out in the front of the net. In the third period, after almost tripping himself up, he scored a backhander from his stomach for the go-ahead goal.

Known more for his longstanding defensive excellence — Carolina is winning his five-on-five postseason minutes 11-5, and he’s done great work in this series against Vegas’ top line — Staal has also been a net-front menace for most of his career.

“I’ve been telling guys to get to the hoop for, I don’t know how long,” Staal said. “Years. Good things happen around there.”

Staal tied the second-longest goal streak in playoff history for the Hurricanes/Whalers, tying Bates Battaglia (2002) and Ray Sheppard (1999).

At 37 years, 272 days, Staal became the second player age 37 or older to score at least five goals in a Stanley Cup Final, following Brad Marchand’s six in 2025. — Russo 

Beaten by the buzzer

For a moment, McNabb thought he had scored his first goal of the Stanley Cup Final, and second of the playoffs. He one-timed a puck past Bussi at the end of the first period. The goal horn inside T-Mobile Arena blared, smoke shot out of the cannons at each corner of the rink and McNabb skated by the bench for celebratory fist bumps.

After a quick review, it was determined that the clock hit zero before the puck crossed the goal line, restoring a 3-1 lead for Carolina heading into intermission.

“Oh, I had no idea,” Bussi said when asked whether he knew McNabb was a split-second too late. “Fortunate it didn’t count.”

Incredibly, it’s the fourth time the Golden Knights have thought they scored in this series only to have it ruled off. Late in Game 2 in Raleigh, N.C., Barbashev pushed the puck across the goal line, but it was ruled that he interfered with the goalie, so it didn’t count. Then there was Stone’s goal early in the second period of Game 3, which was quickly erased after an offside challenge revealed that Howden entered the zone before the puck. Minutes after that, Jack Eichel scored, only for it to be waved off because Barbashev skated into the crease and made contact with Andersen’s mask.

McNabb’s near buzzer-beater was yet another non-goal for Vegas, and it was a big one. Hart had just stuffed a breakaway attempt by Hall that would’ve extended Carolina’s lead to four. If McNabb’s goal had counted, it would’ve been a two-goal swing in a matter of minutes. — Granger

Stankoven hitting all sorts of milestones

Stankoven, the Canes’ 5-foot-8 star, scored 66 seconds into the game. It was his team-leading 11th goal of the playoffs — the second-most in team history and one shy of matching coach Brind’Amour’s franchise record set during Carolina’s 2006 Cup run.

Stankoven also became the ninth player in NHL history to score at least five game-opening goals in a single postseason. He also scored his seventh go-ahead goal of the playoffs, two shy of the most by any active player in a postseason.

His goal, along with Blake’s, staked Carolina out to a crucial two-goal lead and gave Carolina’s second line the “statement game” Hall said they needed to provide.

“I think it sets up the game great. If you put a couple in early, you’re not gripping the stick as tight. And it’s just nice to go out there and kind of play free,” Stankoven said.

“So like (Hall) said, we needed kind of a statement game to come out and contribute, and that’s what we did. And now we’ve just got to keep going.” — Russo

Danger zone

With a tight zone defense, the Golden Knights have made their living for years by building a fortress around the low slot and preventing the puck from getting into the most dangerous scoring areas. They’re typically content to allow teams to pass the puck around the outside of the zone, but make it incredibly difficult to pass it to the middle.

That certainly wasn’t the case Tuesday night. Carolina generated a ton of shots from around the Vegas net and scored all four of its goals from right in front. Staal’s two goals both came inches outside the top of the crease. Stankoven’s opening goal was also from the low slot, while Blake’s tally was a backdoor one-timer.

The defense has been subpar on both ends compared to what we’ve grown accustomed to from these teams over the last several years, and Vegas was particularly weak in an area it’s usually at its strongest. — Granger