Looking at the Stanley Cup Final from a press box perspective, both the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights probably believe that if they continue to stick with their identities and their game plans, the games will fall their way.<\/p>\n
It’s super tight. It\u2019s close. Each of the three games was decided by one goal and could have gone either way, so I think the Hurricanes and coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour can be confident that if they keep playing their way, they’re going to push the games in their favor.<\/p>\n
The Golden Knights and coach John Tortorella should be a little more confident that if they play these games out the way they’ve been played, they’re going to have their opportunity to have success.<\/p>\n
I would be more concerned if I was Carolina, because repeatedly in the first three games Vegas has shown the ability to, call it what you want — transition, counterpunch — deal with the Hurricanes\u2019 full-court pressure. Playing more “direct” (Tortorella’s words from behind the bench in Game 3) has continued to produce plays behind the pressure from Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mark Stone<\/a> might be better at that than Mitch Marner<\/a>, who scored three goals for Vegas in Game 3. Stone has been capable of getting behind the pressure of Carolina\u2019s defensemen being up and pinching. Stone\u2019s overturned goal in Game 3 (the play was offside) in the second period Saturday was an example of this.<\/p>\n It’s not a secret when the defensemen are active and pressure down, you can get a turnover and transition. Marner has been exceptional at exploiting these opportunities.<\/p>\n On the breakaway that led to his second goal in Game 3, the Hurricanes\u2019 defenseman was active through the zone, the puck gets shot and it gets fronted by a Golden Knights defenseman and Marner is gone. He did it at least twice, and that\u2019s by design.<\/p>\n Vegas has had the most success at this in the second period. You\u2019re more exposed in the second because of the long change, which means longer shifts and a longer change for the defensemen. It can be the best time to catch teams when they’re tired and in a pressure situation.<\/p>\n Even in the third period, the Golden Knights still had those opportunities. Marner had the short-handed breakaway and penalty shot. Stone had another breakaway opportunity. They were still getting those chances.<\/p>\n I think the conversation Tortorella had with his team during the television timeout in Game 1 was the most telling. He said, \u201cStay patient. We\u2019ll get our opportunities. We\u2019ll get our opportunities.\u2019 I think they will continue to have them.<\/p>\n Although Carolina came back to score four goals later in the third on Saturday, Vegas seemed to take over the tone of the game earlier in the period. The Golden Knights had massive opportunities but didn’t score.<\/p>\n It didn’t look good for the Hurricanes for the first five or six minutes of that third period; their energy went down, their play went down. That isn\u2019t what we normally see from them.<\/p>\n But the goal from Jordan Martinook<\/a> gave Carolina a spark. Then, Taylor Hall<\/a> and Jordan Staal<\/a>\u00a0scored, and they had three quick ones in a minute. After the third goal, we saw a pretty electric game from both teams.<\/p>\n Brandon Bussi<\/a> made some big saves after replacing Frederik Andersen<\/a> in goal to start the third period, so the question ahead of Game 4 is whether Brind\u2019Amour will change goalies. I think they\u2019re past the point of making a switch.<\/p>\n Andersen played three great series to get them to the Cup Final. Obviously, more goals have gone in during this series, but they haven’t been bad goals per se; the Golden Knights had some high qualities chances and scored some really good goals. I’d be more concerned about the chances that I am giving up.\u00a0<\/p>\n