No VGK Comeback In Game 5: Carolina Can Celebrate Stanley Cup Title In Game 6 In Las Vegas Sunday After Canes’ 4-2 Win In Game 5 Tonight
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS. Nevada — The next time the Vegas Golden Knights take to the ice at T-Mobile Arena Sunday, they face the reality that the Carolina Hurricanes might celebrate winning the NHL championship in the building on the Strip that night.
Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final is a lose-or-go-home for the VGK after the Hurricanes seized Game 5 in front of their fans in Raleigh, North Carolina Thursday.
There was no theater on ice tonight when Carolina secured a 4-2 win behind two Andrei Svechnikov power play goals and a second straight win by Hurricanes netminder Brandon Bussi.
“It was the biggest game of my life for me,” Svechnikov said after the game.
Bussi, an undrafted goalie who spent years in the minors, relieved Carolina netminder Frederik Andersen in Game 3 in a VGK 5-4 double OT win in Las Vegas before winning Games 4 and 5.
VGK forward Pavel Dorofeyev scored a power play goal to give the Knights a 1-0 lead in period one.
But Jordan Staal redirected the puck past VGK goalie Carter Hart to tie the game after the first period. And Carolina added second period goals by Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho for a 3-1 lead after the middle stanz.
Svechnikov added his second power play goal in the third period before Dorofeyev scored his second of the game for the 4-2 final. Dorofeyev was Vegas’ leading regular season scorer with 37 tallies.
Hart has given up at least four goals in each of the Final’s five games so far.
A reporter asked VGK coach John Tortorella if he considered replacing Hart with goalie Adin Hill, who backstopped Vegas’ 2023 Stanley Cup championship.
“Oh for Christ, that could be the stupidest question I’ve heard,” Tortorella said.
The Knights lost more than just the game. William Karlsson was injured in the second period and will probably not return to the Stanley Cup Final.
Game 6 is slated for a 5 PM start in Las Vegas in three days Sunday. It was the VGK’s second straight loss — the first time the Knights have lost consecutive games this postseason.
“We’ll be back here,” Tortorella said. “We have to find a way. I’m going to leave my clothes here. They will be in the hotel.”
PSA
