Andrei Svechnikov called Thursday night’s Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final the biggest game of his life, and the Carolina Hurricanes get to feel that weight at home. The series is tied 2-2 with the Vegas Golden Knights, and Carolina can move within one win of the Stanley Cup with a victory in Raleigh.
Game 5 is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, with all games in the series set to start at 8 p.m. and be seen on ABC11. The Hurricanes took Game 4 on the road to reclaim home-ice advantage, and if the series reaches a seventh game, it would come back to Raleigh next Wednesday. Game 6 is set for Sunday in Las Vegas.
Taylor Hall said the group is glad to be back in front of its own fans. “We’re excited to be at home,” he said, adding that the team believes its play has kept moving the right way through the series. Hall said Carolina feels like “an in-shape team” that can keep going as long as needed, pointing to the confidence built by three short series to open the playoffs.
The matchup has been anything but the defensive grind many expected. Through four games, the final had produced 33 goals, with nightly blown multi-goal leads, wild swings and close finishes replacing the low-scoring script that was supposed to define it. John Tortorella said Wednesday, “I don’t think anybody expected this.”
That unpredictability has stretched both sides. Carolina opened with Frederik Andersen after his 12-1 run through the Eastern Conference playoffs, then pulled him in Game 3 before Brandon Bussi started Game 4. On the other side, Vegas goaltender Carter Hart has allowed at least four goals in each of the first four games, yet the Golden Knights have still won two of them. Rod Brind’Amour described the bench as producing “intensely stressful nights” in a series where no lead has felt safe.
Now Svechnikov’s words frame the next 60 minutes, or more, in Raleigh. A Carolina win would put the Hurricanes one game from the title and send the final back to Las Vegas with the pressure shifting again; a loss would hand Vegas the chance to close it out on Sunday and leave Carolina staring at Game 7 at home next week.
