{"id":730698,"date":"2026-06-11T22:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/730698\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T22:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:40:16","slug":"hurricanes-golden-knights-meet-for-crucial-game-5-in-what-is-now-a-best-of-3-stanley-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/730698\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricanes, Golden Knights meet for crucial Game 5 in what is now a best-of-3 Stanley Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> forward Taylor Hall<\/a> figures his team has played all season for the opportunity that now awaits in the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes host the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> in Thursday night\u2019s Game 5, with the best-of-seven series even at 2-2. The Hurricanes won Game 4 on the road to retake home-ice advantage, which would include next Wednesday\u2019s Game 7 if the series goes the distance. <\/p>\n

Game 6 is Sunday in Las Vegas and will provide the first opportunity for a Cup-clinching win.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re excited to be at home,” Hall said. \u201cI think our game has been trending in the right direction all series long, doing a lot of really good things. We feel like we\u2019re an in-shape team. We can go as long as this needs to go. The fact we had three short series to start with, we\u2019re confident in where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home ice hasn\u2019t mattered much in a series in which the only reliable element is its unpredictability. It\u2019s made for an epic finale with nightly blown multi-goal leads, wild swings and close finishes \u2014 perfect for fans packed into buzzing arenas and TV viewers but leading to what Carolina coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour has described as intensely stressful nights behind the bench.<\/p>\n

As Vegas coach John Tortorella said Wednesday: \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody expected this.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s come in a series that was expected to be a defense-first battle but has instead seen 33 goals through four games (8.3 per game), making life tricky for each team\u2019s goaltenders.<\/p>\n

Carolina started veteran Frederik Andersen<\/a> after he had led them in a 12-1 run through the Eastern Conference playoffs, but pulled him in the third period of Game 3 with the Hurricanes down 4-0 before rallying in what ended as a double-overtime loss. Brandon Bussi<\/a> played well in relief, then got the start in Game 4 with Brind\u2019Amour saying Andersen \u2014 who didn\u2019t dress out \u2014 needed a break.<\/p>\n

Brind\u2019Amour wouldn\u2019t specify a Game 5 starter beyond saying everyone is available.<\/p>\n

As for Vegas, Carter Hart<\/a> has become the first goaltender in Stanley Cup Final history to give up at least four goals in each of the first four games yet two of them were wins. Tortorella said he had no concerns about Hart\u2019s play \u201cat all.\u201d <\/p>\n

This Stanley Cup Final has offered a perfect companion to what\u2019s going in the other major American pro sports championship series taking place. On Wednesday night, the New York Knicks rallied from 29 down to stun the San Antonio Spurs in the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history to take a 3-1 series lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to go to bed,\u201d Tortorella said of watching the comeback. \u201cBut when they got it down to 15, you knew something stupid was going to happen. I\u2019m just basically saying the same stupid stuff\u2019s happened in our series.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/p>\n

Aaron Beard, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 Carolina Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall figures his team has played all season for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-730698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}