RALEIGH, N.C. — The Vegas Golden Knights received a taste of their own medicine on Thursday night.
And for it, we have a series.
The Knights might have created some late third-period magic again, but it was the Carolina Hurricanes who rallied for a huge comeback victory.
Man. What a crazy final 14 minutes of hockey.
I mean, it was nuts.
Carolina would beat the Knights 4-3 in overtime at the Lenovo Center, equaling this best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final at a game apiece.
The series now heads to Las Vegas for Game 3 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, where fans might be hard-pressed to equal the atmosphere that played out here over the opening two games.
“It’s a battle,” Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “It’s not going to be easy. You have to deal with some adversity. We’re all good. We’re excited to get back to Las Vegas and take control of the series again.
“We’re fine. We’re excited to get back home.”
Things weren’t all that exciting for 50 minutes. The Knights were up 2-0 because they were beating Carolina at Carolina’s own game.
Winning puck battles.
Winning board battles.
Tougher.
Pushing the home guys around.
The Hurricanes appeared more confused than anything.
Carter Hart was again making key stops for the Knights in goal to maintain a scoreboard advantage. He was working on what would have been his first shutout of this post-season.
Then the final 10 minutes arrived and all hell broke loose.
The challenge
A lot of it had to do with Carolina getting on its forecheck and pressuring all over the ice. The Hurricanes brought it and the Knights struggled to counter.
Carolina would score twice within a two-minute span to tie the game before its biggest moment went by way of the Hurricanes.
It came with five minutes remaining in the third and on a challenge by Knights coach John Tortorella on a non-goal call after an attempted wrap-around ended up under Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen before slipping into the net.
Tortorella likes to say he doesn’t mind when his players make aggressive mistakes.
Some might count this one as such by challenging the call. Especially the way things turned out.
“I saw a loose puck in front of (Andersen) and our player stab at it,” Tortorella said. “It didn’t move the goalie. It goes through to the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”
The Knights then paid for him doing so, even though he was correct in challenging.
But on the ensuing power play following the failed challenge, Carolina scored to go up 3-2.
Mark Stone would use what is his supreme hand-eye-coordination to backhand in a game-tying goal with 1:21 remaining in the third period, but the Hurricanes would write a story we have become familiar with reading from the Knights.
Carolina would win it nearly four minutes into overtime via a Seth Jarvis power-play score.
The other guys were celebrating such a win this time.
It was a daunting final 14 minutes for the Knights, ones Tortorella didn’t want to speak about when asked what happened.
“I have my thoughts and I’m not discussing them here.”
OK then.
Lost in all of it — the challenge, the Carolina comeback, the craziness that suddenly engulfed the game — was a scary situation that occurred with 9:08 remaining in the first period.
That’s when Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb took a puck to the face while attempting to block a shot and immediately left the ice. He was reportedly transported to a local hospital.
That meant the Knights would go with five defensemen the rest of the way and you could tell such work wore on them down the stretch when Carolina started really pressing the action.
Nothing easy
“It’s terrifying,” Knights forward Mitch Marner said. “Hopefully, he’s all good. I thought the five guys did a good job. Look — we’re in the Stanley Cup Final. This was never going to be easy. Just have to be a little better with some pucks, but that’s how the game goes. I like how we battled back.
“Nothing is going to be easy. This series isn’t going to be easy. We knew that coming into it. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
It has happened so often, these Knights rallying to win in the final period, that you assume it might again.
But they got a taste of their own medicine on Thursday.
Yes, folks. We have a series.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
