The Carolina Hurricanes can hoist the Stanley Cup in Game 6 on Sunday night, with the trophy in the building and the Vegas Golden Knights needing a win to force a Game 7. Carolina leads the series 3-2, so one more close-out performance ends it.
That is why Hurricanes Vs Golden Knights is drawing so much attention now: this is not just another playoff game, but the one that can finish the championship round. The stakes are plain. If Carolina wins, the series is over. If Vegas wins, the title chase goes on.
Vegas tried to change the feel of Game 5 by stacking its lines and leaning hard on its stars, and it spent nearly eight minutes of five-on-five play with Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone together. Those three logged over 20 minutes apiece, while no Carolina forward went above 20 minutes, a sign of how aggressively the Golden Knights chased the game.
But the push came with a cost. William Karlsson left Game 5 with an upper-body injury after a heavy Sean Walker check, and John Tortorella ruled him out for Game 6. Karlsson centered Mitch Marner and Brett Howden and was a critical penalty killer, so his absence leaves a hole in the middle of a lineup that already has little room for error.
There is also no clean escape in goal. Tortorella said Carter Hart will start again for Vegas, even though Hart has allowed at least four goals in five straight games. In Game 5, he finished with a 2.73 expected goals against and minus-1.27 goals saved above expectation, and three of Carolina’s goals were classified as low-danger shots. Tortorella’s own defense of Hart was less a promise than a warning: he said he knows the goalie has a better game in him, but also that the team has to do a better job around him and that the numbers do not tell the whole story.
That leaves Vegas with a simple task and a hard one. It must solve a series that has tilted toward Carolina, protect a goalie under pressure and do it without Karlsson in the middle. Sunday night gives the Golden Knights their last chance to force Game 7, and it gives the Hurricanes their first chance to finish the job.
