RALEIGH, N.C. — The sun rose again Friday. It’s a new dawn. A new day. A new life, if you will.
Nina Simone’s 1964 classic “Feeling Good” probably isn’t on top of the Vegas Golden Knights’ playlist heading back home for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
They’d feel better if they had closed out the final 10 minutes of Game 2 on Thursday and took a commanding series lead back to T-Mobile Arena.
Instead, the Carolina Hurricanes have life following their 4-3 overtime victory at Lenovo Center with the series shifting to Las Vegas on Saturday.
The Knights were nine minutes away from a 2-0 series lead and being halfway home to a second Stanley Cup championship.
They carried a two-goal lead into the third period, lost it with less than five minutes left, then tied it with a minute remaining.
All for Carolina forward Seth Jarvis to one-time a shot from the left circle at 3:56 of overtime to end any chance of a happy ending for the road team.
“It is what it is,” center William Karlsson said. “Obviously we would have loved to win that game. I don’t mind getting back up on the horse again and try to win (Game 3).”
Not enough push
The Knights didn’t luck into that two-goal lead created by leading goal scorer Brett Howden.
They expected a tighter checking game after a number of giveaways in Game 1 ended up in their net. The Knights kept it simple and capitalized on their chances.
But the Knights weren’t surprised that Carolina pushed back in the fashion it did — three goals in less than five minutes to turn that cushion into a one-goal deficit.
”That’s how the game of hockey goes sometimes,” winger Mitch Marner said. “We just have to stay patient and do the things that we did going through those first two (periods). I thought we kind of just gave pucks away a little too much.”
Marner felt the Knights stopped playing direct and that tilted the ice back in Carolina’s favor. Though Carolina had an 8-2 edge in shots during the first period, the Knights had a 23-15 edge in the final 40 minutes.
The scoreboard did not reflect the shot counter. Consider that a reminder to keep the foot on the pedal for a full 60 minutes.
”Just keep advancing the puck and good things will happen for us,” forward Keegan Kolesar said. “It’s a team that preys on turnovers so they’re always going to try to hang around and get whatever they can off the turnover.”
Ups and downs
No lead has been safe throughout the series. The Knights rallied from two goals down to win 5-4 in Game 1. They were on the other side of that in Game 2.
It’s the second Stanley Cup Final in NHL history to have multi-goal comeback wins in the first two games. The 2014 Los Angeles Kings won the first two over the New York Rangers in 2014.
Game 2 had a little bit of everything. The comeback. A failed coach’s challenge that nearly decided the game. The equalizer to send it to overtime.
Lost in that was the Knights’ last two goals given up came on Carolina power plays.
Before captain Jordan Staal’s deflection to give Carolina the lead and Jarvis’ game-winning blast, the Knights were 46 of 52 (88.4 percent) on the penalty kill in the postseason.
That number went down to a still respectable 85 percent. It would look a lot better if they killed one.
”They slung one from the point, had a nice tip on the first one. Seeing-eye shot on the second one. Nothing that we haven’t seen in the pre-scout,” forward Colton Sissons said. “We just have to be better on our end, execute better, block shots and take away those dangerous opportunities.”
Home-ice advantage
The focus shifts to health. It’s unclear if the Knights will ice a fully healthy lineup in Game 3 after defenseman Brayden McNabb’s facial injury he suffered in the first period.
Coach John Tortorella had no update, but McNabb is traveling back with the team and could be available Saturday.
Regardless of who’s in, the Knights are looking forward to getting back home after experiencing a rowdy Carolina crowd, especially in the third period.
“You saw it yesterday with the lead change right there. I haven’t heard a crowd that loud probably since the whiteout (in the first round against Winnipeg) a couple years ago,” Kolesar said. “Very excited to be going home to our home crowd. Obviously we got the first one, which is great. We wanted to get two. We didn’t. A split is great. So now we go back to Vegas with home-ice advantage.”
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Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
Up next
Who: Hurricanes at Golden Knights
What: Stanley Cup Final, Game 3 (series tied 1-1)
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: T-Mobile Arena
TV: ABC
Radio: KFLG 94.7 FM/KKGK 1340 AM
Line: Even; total 6
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Stanley Cup Final schedule
Game 1: Knights 5, Hurricanes 4
Game 2: Hurricanes 4, Knights 3 (OT)
Game 3: June 6, 5 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena, KTNV-TV (Channel 13)
Game 4: June 9, 5 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena, KTNV-TV (Channel 13)
*Game 5: June 11, 5 p.m. at Lenovo Center, KTNV-TV (Channel 13)
*Game 6: June 14, 5 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena, KTNV-TV (Channel 13)
*Game 7: June 17, 5 p.m. at Lenovo Center, KTNV-TV (Channel 13)
*if necessary
