Hurricanes Head to Game 6 With 3-2 Lead in Stanley Cup Finals
The Carolina Hurricanes head into the stanley cup finals Game 6 on Sunday with a 3-2 lead and a chance to finish the job at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. They are one win from their first Stanley Cup championship in 20 years, while the Golden Knights need two straight victories to survive.
The Stanley Cup will be in the building when the puck drops. Carolina has won the past two games, and the series has tilted enough that Game 6 now carries the season for Vegas and a title opportunity for the Hurricanes.
Martinook’s Cup vision
Jordan Martinook put the moment in personal terms before Game 6. “I think I've ran the thought of lifting that Cup over my head millions of times since I was a little kid,” the Hurricanes forward said. “So, the fact that it's this close just makes you want it that much more and you're going to do everything you can to try to achieve it.”
That kind of urgency matches Carolina’s position. The Hurricanes are 3-0 in potential clinching games this postseason, and they have already handled the pressure of closing out series when the chance has been there.
Vegas without Karlsson
Vegas faces its first elimination game without William Karlsson, who will not play after an injury that appeared to be to his left arm in the second period of Game 5. He has four points in the series and nine points in 15 playoff games, and he has been the center on the team’s most productive line in this series with Mitch Marner and Brett Howden.
Marner said the group has handled injuries all year, but losing Karlsson changes the look of the lineup. “He's done a lot of great things for us since he's been back in the lineup, but we've done this all year,” he said. “We've had a lot of injuries throughout the year, throughout playoffs. So obviously it (stinks) losing Will but it's next-man-up mentality.”
Carter Hart under pressure
Carolina has also forced the issue on special teams. The Hurricanes are 6-for-12 on the power play since the third period of Game 2, and that stretch has helped them build the 3-2 edge they carry into Game 6.
Hart enters with a.856 save percentage and a 3.70 goals-against average, and he has allowed four goals in every game of the series. He is the first goalie in Stanley Cup Final history to allow at least four goals in each of the first five games of a series, a number that has left Vegas needing a sharper start and a cleaner defensive night to push this thing to Game 7.
Game 6 in Las Vegas
The Golden Knights have not lost two games in a row since mid-January, and Brayden McNabb pointed to the chance in front of them. “What an opportunity,” he said. “Win a game at home and go for a Game 7.”
History gives Vegas a narrow opening. Teams holding a 3-2 lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final are 27-18 in Game 6, and they are 8-2 since 2012. Carolina owns the better position, but the building and the pressure now belong to the defending side of the ice.
