RALEIGH, N.C. — The Vegas Golden Knights at least in part rode a dominant penalty kill unit all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Now their struggles against the Carolina power play have them on the verge of falling short of achieving their goal of hoisting the trophy for the second time in four seasons.
The Hurricanes went 2-for-5 on the man-advantage in a 4-2 Game 5 win at Lenovo Center on Thursday night and now have a chance to etch their names on the Stanley Cup on Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.
“Obviously, I think our penalty kill needs to try and find a way to keep them off the board,” center Nic Dowd said. “That’s a momentum swinger for sure.”
Carolina is 6-for-16 in the series, a ridiculous 37.5 success rate.
The Knights had killed off 42 of the 48 power plays through the first three rounds of the playoffs after finishing seventh in the league during the regular season (81.4 percent).
“After (they) got the equalizer (in the first period), it seems like maybe it became a little bit of a special teams battle,” center Jack Eichel said. “A few power plays there they were able to capitalize and we made some chances and didn’t capitalize. It’s a difference.
“Special teams is a big part of the game and this time of year you’ve got to be on the right side of it. Unfortunately, we weren’t.”
A big part of the issue was the Knights stacking up penalties.
One second after a roughing penalty against Jeremy Lauzon expired and just as he was leaving the box, Brayden McNabb was called for a cross check.
The Hurricanes scored on the ensuing power play and took a 2-1 lead in the second period.
Those types of penalties put additional strain on the killers because that group was just out on the ice trying to neutralize an explosive power play group and then have to try to do it again while already strained.
“Anytime you give the other team’s best players an opportunity to get on the ice on the power play and feel good about themselves, and obviously you’re a man down, right?” Dowd said. “You stack that up and it can definitely get challenging and tire guys out. But we’ve still got to do a job there. The game’s still 1-1, even 2-1 still within reach.”
That’s particularly true when someone like McNabb, an effective penalty killer, is the one in the box and unable to join the group. William Karlsson, a strong defensive center, also left during the game with an apparent upper body injury.
“They got momentum off of it,” McNabb said. “Calls are what they are, so you can’t do much about it. We need to try to get a kill there, but they got momentum.”
Then captain Mark Stone was given a double minor for a high stick midway through the third period. Andrei Svechnikov scored his second power-play goal of the game 2:30 into the man advantage.
“I think we’re starting to do the simple things and we have a shooting mentality,” Svechnikov said of a power-play unit that finished fourth in the league this year, but had struggled much of the postseason.We’re looking for rebounds and we’ve got good chemistry going on.”
McNabb said it’s difficult to know whether the Knights are slumping on the kill or if the Hurricanes have just figured out the right recipe to beat them.
“Maybe a little bit of both,” he said. “The one they got, they fan on the shot and fool everyone, so it’s an unfortunate break. Good for them, they got their goals on the power play and we just have to be better on the PK.”
Knights coach John Tortorella said there were moments he liked what he saw on the kill, but added they will watch the film to see if there are areas where they could improve.
He indicated he already had some ideas that he wasn’t willing to share at a news conference.
“I thought we had a good start. We just lost momentum when we had back-to-back penalties around the same time we lost (Karlsson),” Tortorella said. “But we’ve got to find a way. At times I thought we were good. There are some situations where I thought we could push them and be more aggressive, but we have to complete it.
“It’s tough with the back-to-backs. But we’ll look at it.”
Tortorella hopes he can find an answer. If not, the season could be over Sunday.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
