RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes have reclaimed home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Final.
Not that it's mattered much in this series.
The Hurricanes split two road games with the Vegas Golden Knights to return home for Thursday's Game 5 with the best-of-seven series tied 2-2. Normally that would be a reassuring feeling for a team that that has long thrived in its own building in front of its raucous crowd.
But this series has been a thriller
with multi-goal comebacks, two overtime games, tight finishes and alternating wins. The only reliable element is its unpredictability.
“You get to this stage, you wouldn’t get here if you didn’t play well on the road,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour told reporters in Las Vegas on Wednesday. “So I don’t know how much of an advantage it’s been or will be. I hope it is, but I’m certainly not counting on that.”
The Hurricanes are coming off Tuesday's 5-3 road win that leveled the series. The standout reason was 37-year-old captain Jordan Staal continuing his turn-back-the-clock performance in this series by scoring twice, including batting in the go-ahead goal as he flopped onto his belly in the third period.
It also came with a change in net with Brind'Amour turning to Brandon Bussi, the waiver-wire wonder who won 31 regular-season games before veteran Frederik Andersen took over for the playoffs. Bussi responded with 18 saves in his first career playoff start, coming after he took over for the third period of Game 3 as Carolina erased a 4-0 deficit before Vegas won 5-4 in double overtime.
The Hurricanes even had a productive night with their beleagured power play, which converted on Staal's first goal and led to another from Jackson Blake just four seconds after the man advantage expired.
It was Carolina's 14th straight win when coming off a loss, a run that started back-to-back losses on Jan. 12 and 13.
“We go through very honestly what we did good, what we did bad, and guys have responded to the message,” top-line center Sebastian Aho said. “Everyone goes through their video and talks about their stuff. But I thought we’ve battled hard, we’ve worked our tails off all year. And also in those little details the coaches have asked, we've responded."
The stage is set for a best-of-three showdown to hoist the Cup, with a potential Game 7 also set for Raleigh.
Dating to the first full season after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hurricanes lead the NHL in home regular-season wins (144) and home points percentage (.737), according to SportRadar. The Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning are the only other two teams in the league with a points percentage higher than .700 in that same stretch going back to the 2021-22 season.
That success has continued in the playoffs, with Carolina's 28 postseason wins at home also leading the league through those years.
Yet they have also lost twice at home in the past five games going back to the East final against Montreal.
Vegas opened this series by rallying from a 2-0 first-period deficit to win 5-4. Game 2 saw the Hurricanes rally from a 2-0 deficit in the third period, then regroup from giving up a late tying goal to win on Seth Jarvis' one-timer in overtime. And both teams have seven of their 14 postseason wins coming on the road.
The Hurricanes and Knights have offered at least one element of predictable play.
The second period has been all Vegas in this series, with the Golden Knights outscoring Carolina 9-1 while taking a 40-25 shot advantage. Yet the Hurricanes have had the third-period edge, outscoring the Golden Knights 10-3 while the shots have been closer to even (40-37 Vegas).
“Our crowd’s amazing, you get last change, but like you said: it is split,” defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “I think the way both teams play it’s a matter of just sticking to your game. We’re both trying to play the same game with a few slight differences. It's just whoever can play their game better and more consistently.”
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