Hurricanes overcome Golden Knights in Vegas, square up Stanley Cup Final series
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- Carolina Hurricanes practiced with all skaters on the ice Monday at T‑Mobile Arena.
- Forward William Carrier returned at full speed after leaving Game 3 with an upper‑body.
- Jalen Chatfield, Taylor Hall, and K’Andre Miller practiced despite earlier injuries.
Carolina Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal called it a “massive game” in the Stanley Cup Final.
Staal then went out and played a massive game, leading the Canes to a 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena.
Staal scored twice, his second goal on a beauty of a play that was equal parts hustle and determination. Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Nikolaj Ehlers all had goals as the Hurricanes evened the series 2-2 going back to Raleigh for Game 5 on Thursday.
“It’s obviously huge,” Ehlers, who also had two assists, said of the win. “To go back home down 3-1 would not have been a lot of fun. But there’s no quit in this team and I think we showed that tonight.”
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And Brandon Bussi was the winning goalie. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour kept his starter a secret until the pregame warmups, but Bussi got the nod and got the job done in easily the biggest game of his career, stopping 18 of 21 shots against a potent Vegas offense.
“He was unbelievable for us tonight,” Ehlers said.
Staal’s second goal of the game was just short of a magical moment, the kind to be shown and reshown in NHL playoff highlights.
As he was falling to the ice in the low slot, Staal stretched out his stick to somehow flick a backhander toward the net. Goalie Carter Hart, seemingly surprised Staal got off the shot, sprawled to try and make the stop but helplessly flopped to the ice as the puck fluttered past him.
Staal, face down on the ice, did a short “celly” by clenching his fists, and then popped back up. The Canes, after having the Knights tie it 3-3 with two scores in the second, had a 4-3 lead at 6:32 of the third.
The Canes’ final goal came after the Knights pulled Hart for an extra attacker. Ehlers whacked the puck out of the Canes zone, banking it off the wall and down the ice into the empty net.
Staal, shoving himself into consideration for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP, became the first player since Mike Bossy in 1983 to score goals in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final games.
“He’s big and strong and takes every shift likes it’s his last.,” Brind’Amour said. “He takes a lot of pride in that and takes pride and in being a leader. He leads by example.
“For whatever reason the goals are going in, but he’s always played like this.”
While Bussi was the starter, In an interesting twist, Andersen, who missed practice Monday, was not the backup. Pyotr Kochetkov made his first playoff appearance.
Andersen served as the emergency goaltender, and was listed as a scratch.
Brind’Amour often has noted that during the playoffs the Canes have played some strong first periods with too little to show for it — Game 3 being the most recent example.
But the Canes took a 3-1 lead Tuesday after the first. Staal had the third score of that period, as well, on a power play..
In the first three games of the Cup Final, the Canes allowed 2, 4 and 2 shots in the first periods against the Knights, getting the defensive work done.
The Canes again came out Tuesday moving the puck crisply and quickly striking offensively. And the Logan Stankoven line was a big part of it, again.
Stankoven had Carolina on the board at 1:06 with his 11th goal of the playoffs. That’s one behind the Hurricanes playoff record of 12 set by Brind’Amour when the Canes won the Cup in 2006.
Jackson Blake then made it 2-0 just after a Canes power play had expired. Taylor Hall had the setup pass, his 12th assist of the playoffs, as Blake scored his sixth.
“We came really sharp, just like we did in the last game, too,” Blake said.
Vegas captain Mark Stone, denied by Bussi on a shorthanded chance, nudged the puck past Bussi’s left skate for the first Knights goal.
The Knights were split-second away from scoring to end the first but Brayden McNabb’s blistering shot was just after the horn – Knights fans celebrating, then quickly deflated after seeing the replay.
Vegas was the better team in the second, just as the Knights have been throughout the playoffs.
William Karlsson and then Brett Howden had goals for Vegas — Howden getting his 14th of a special playoff run for the forward who has 12 in the regular season.
“The second periods have been a little shaky for us, but in the third periods we’ve come out hot,” Blake said.
It was both a test of wills and games at that point -- 3-3, with a period to play.
“I was proud of the group and how we stepped up in the third period,” Staal said. “I thought we stuck with what we wanted to do, stayed patient and found a way to get one.”
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Hurricanes went with Bussi
Even two hours before Game 4, Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour would not reveal who the Canes’ starting goalie would be: Andersen or Bussi.
“We’ll see,” he said Tuesday.
In warmups, some 30 minutes before puck drop, we saw: It was Bussi.
And, in another twist: Pyotr Kochetkov was the Canes’ backup. Andersen was not in uniform.
Andersen did not practice Monday and was given a day off the ice. Bussi, who stopped 18 of 19 shots in relief of Andersen in Game 3, was in the so-called starter’s crease.
Brind’Amour has had some fun the past two days keeping the media guessing. He was first asked Tuesday about changes in the lineup for Game 4, but did not bite on it. Another veiled question was about the process that goes into deciding on a starter.
Earlier Tuesday, Vegas coach John Tortorella was asked about Bussi being a righthander and if that could affect the way to attack the goalie
“We don’t care who’s playing, what hand, what feet. We’re just going to play,” he said,
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Hurricanes overcome Golden Knights in Vegas, square up Stanley Cup Final series."
