RALEIGH, N.C. – Carolina Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall figures his team has played all season for the opportunity that now awaits in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Hurricanes host the Vegas Golden Knights in Thursday night's Game 5, with the best-of-seven series even at 2-2. The Hurricanes won Game 4 on the road to retake home-ice advantage, which would include next Wednesday's Game 7 if the series goes the distance.
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Game 6 is Sunday in Las Vegas and will provide the first opportunity for a Cup-clinching win.
‘We're excited to be at home," Hall said. "I think our game has been trending in the right direction all series long, doing a lot of really good things. We feel like we're an in-shape team. We can go as long as this needs to go. The fact we had three short series to start with, we’re confident in where we’re at."
Home ice hasn't mattered much in a series in which the only reliable element is its unpredictability. It’s made for an epic finale with nightly blown multi-goal leads, wild swings and close finishes — perfect for fans packed into buzzing arenas and TV viewers but leading to what Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour has described as intensely stressful nights behind the bench.
As Vegas coach John Tortorella said Wednesday: “I don't think anybody expected this.”
It's come in a series that was expected to be a defense-first battle but has instead seen 33 goals through four games (8.3 per game), making life tricky for each team's goaltenders.
Carolina started veteran Frederik Andersen after he had led them in a 12-1 run through the Eastern Conference playoffs, but pulled him in the third period of Game 3 with the Hurricanes down 4-0 before rallying in what ended as a double-overtime loss. Brandon Bussi played well in relief, then got the start in Game 4 with Brind'Amour saying Andersen — who didn't dress out — needed a break.
Brind’Amour wouldn’t specify a Game 5 starter beyond saying everyone is available.
As for Vegas, Carter Hart has become the first goaltender in Stanley Cup Final history to give up at least four goals in each of the first four games yet two of them were wins. Tortorella said he had no concerns about Hart's play “at all.”
This Stanley Cup Final has offered a perfect companion to what's going in the other major American pro sports championship series taking place. On Wednesday night, the New York Knicks rallied from 29 down to stun the San Antonio Spurs in the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history to take a 3-1 series lead.
“I wanted to go to bed,” Tortorella said of watching the comeback. “But when they got it down to 15, you knew something stupid was going to happen. I'm just basically saying the same stupid stuff's happened in our series.”
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