The Stanley Cup Final might have a different outlook right now if the Vegas Golden Knights got the necessary stops at the right time.
The Knights have had to tap into their resiliency bank multiple times this series because the Carolina Hurricanes have blitzed them in moments during three straight games.
Carolina scored three times in the first period Tuesday night and became the first team since the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins to record three or more goals in a period in three consecutive games of a Stanley Cup Final.
The Hurricanes scored three times in the third period of Game 2 and found the net on four occasions in the third period of Game 3.
“We had the same a few games ago. I feel like the whole series has been a momentum series where if you get one, you get two. If you’re down two, you come back and suddenly you get three,” defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “It’s been kind of the same all series. We just got to find a way to stop the bleeding.”
Carolina captain Jordan Staal scored the third goal of the period with a power-play goal. He also added the game-winner six minutes into the third.
Staal, 37, became the third-oldest player to record a multi-goal game in the Stanley Cup Final. Only Mark Recchi (43) and Igor Larionov (41) were older.
But it might not have gotten to that point if the Knights didn’t fall behind the 8-ball early.
“Just the fact that it’s happened, we’ve got to limit that, for sure,” center Colton Sissons said.
Ratings boom continues
So much for the narrative that no one was going to watch this series.
ABC announced that Game 2 saw an average of 4.68 million viewers. While it was a slight dip from Game 1 of 4.79 million, viewership peaked at 5.8 million viewers.
It was an 88 percent uptick from Game 2 of last year’s Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, and up 33 percent from the Florida-Edmonton series the year prior.
The 4-3 overtime win for Carolina was the highest-watched Game 2 of the Cup Final since Chicago and Tampa Bay in 2015. That carried 6.55 million viewers on NBC.
Mick Akers contributed to this report. Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
