We are about to enter the first elimination game of the Stanley Cup Final on the heels of Game 5, which put the Carolina Hurricanes in position to win their first championship since 2006.
It's not as if Carolina was in control from the start -- the Vegas Golden Knights scored early in the first period to take a 1-0 lead -- but it was all Hurricanes from there as Carolina scored the next four goals and held on for a 4-2 win.
It's wild to think that in this series we had already seen multigoal leads disappear in each of the first four games. That wasn't the case Thursday as Carolina punched in one puck after another past Carter Hart to put Vegas on the brink of a failed Cup run in its own building Sunday.
And the fact that William Karlsson, one of the Golden Knights' most important forwards, didn't return for the third period after leaving in the second with an apparent injury will only make the task ahead more difficult for Vegas. The Golden Knights had their chances at a comeback but couldn't make good. Now the Hurricanes are a win away from their ultimate goal.
Carolina Hurricanes
Grade: A-
Carolina looked skittish in the opening moments of Game 5 and that led to a Nikolaj Ehlers penalty that turned into Pavel Dorofeyev's opening score less than seven minutes into the first period. Tough.
Jordan Staal, though, was ready to respond and continued turning back the clock with a sensational game-tying score. Carolina went into the second period fully poised and looked like a veteran team used to winning. Though it didn't capitalize on Vegas' first power-play offering in the middle frame, Andrei Svechnikov (with his first of two goals) didn't miss on the second try of the period to give Carolina an advantage it could feel good about. It was the Hurricanes' fifth power-play goal in as many games -- matching their total from the team's eight prior postseason tilts. And then Sebastian Aho grabbed another goal for the Hurricanes to give them a 3-1 lead going into the third.
That was just the second goal Aho has scored in the postseason (through 14 games), and perhaps that's what makes the Canes so unique. It was clear coach Rod Brind'Amour's decision to swap Jordan Martinook for Seth Jarvis on the Canes' top line has had an impact. Sometimes, change is a good thing. It has worked in net and up front for Carolina so far.
Vegas Golden Knights
Grade: C
Vegas gets some boost from actually outshooting Carolina in the first period for the first time in this series. (It held an 8-5 advantage in Game 5 after being outshot by a combined 41-14 in the previous four first periods.) But even though the Golden Knights took advantage of the Hurricanes' disciplinary issues with an opening power-play goal, they let that lead slip when Staal got on the board to tie things up through 20 minutes.
The Golden Knights' depth took a hit midway through the second period when Karlsson left the game with an apparent left arm ailment following a hit from Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker. And Vegas didn't help itself from there with back-to-back -- and supremely undisciplined -- penalties against Jeremy Lauzon and Brayden McNabb. The Golden Knights killed off Lauzon's infraction but Svechnikov didn't miss on the next opportunity. And then Vegas ceded another score to Aho and was facing a two-goal hole going into the final 20 minutes of a game it was previously leading. By the time veterans like Mark Stone were taking penalties in the third -- for a brutal double minor that led to a power-play goal -- it felt like all was lost.
This has been a back-and-forth series to date. Vegas still has a chance. But it will have to show much more than what it put on display in Game 5. Winning two games in a row at this stage will take everything the Golden Knights have in them.
Players to watch in Game 6
Pavel Dorofeyev
RW, Golden Knights
Historically speaking, it's not a team's most "elite" players who carry the day through a tough championship. It's the ones who contribute when it matters most -- and that has been Dorofeyev's calling card throughout Vegas' postseason run. He looked to have a stellar setup to Jack Eichel in the first period -- that ended up being credited as Dorofeyev's own goal -- and then he scored again in the third period of Game 5 to give the Golden Knights life. That put his totals at 12 goals and 16 points in the playoffs to date.
What Dorofeyev is delivering in this series is timely contributions that elevate his teammates. He's like a bloodhound on the ice, sniffing out opportunities and making them count. Vegas is fortunate to have several skaters who can do that but not necessarily with the consistency Dorofeyev is bringing to the ice. It would be easy to say "Keep an eye on Mitch Marner" or "Eichel will have the puck on a string in Game 6," but it's the "secondary" performers like Dorofeyev who allow those stars to shine. If he can keep producing those moments of real pop for the group, then Vegas will be a tough customer for Carolina on Sunday.
Jordan Staal
C, Hurricanes
It was 1956 the last time a player had at least one goal in each of the first five games of a Cup Final. Staal matched that feat Thursday with his sixth goal of the series, and he will be looking to set a new record (with tallies in six straight Cup outings) in Game 6.
The Hurricanes' captain knows how difficult it is to climb this particular mountain, having won it all with Pittsburgh in 2009. That was practically a lifetime ago, though, and Staal has been achingly close to this precipice on multiple occasions with Carolina, losing in three prior Eastern Conference finals. He has shown up repeatedly against Vegas like a veteran who understands this could be his last, best chance to hoist a Cup for the second time. That's the energy Staal must bring with him to Vegas. It's not just that he's the Hurricanes' captain; he's their heartbeat.
There's no question Staal will strive to be at his best in Game 6. Every single one of his teammates should be driven to follow in his footsteps.
Big questions for Game 6
Is Vegas ready to rise?
The Golden Knights were not the strongest version of themselves in Game 5. We've seen better from them, in these playoffs and in this series. Vegas has overcome deficits along the way and should never be counted out. But as Carolina looked more convincing with each passing period Thursday, Vegas looked increasingly deflated.
Now facing adversity with a capital "A," what will the Golden Knights do about it? They took bad penalties, had suboptimal goaltending and weren't buoyed by star performances. Will that change in Game 6 to give them a one-way ticket back to Raleigh? How will they adjust if Karlsson isn't available? And will their top contributors -- Marner, Eichel and Hart -- be on top of their games so this isn't the end of their team's run?
The Golden Knights have responded under coach John Tortorella, and this is the ultimate test of their resiliency after a disappointing showing in a critical game.
Can Carolina truly trust its goaltending?
The Hurricanes didn't exactly make a bold decision in going from Frederik Andersen to Brandon Bussi in Game 3 of the Cup Final after Andersen had given up three markers in the second period and Bussi was tapped with cleanup duty in the third. Carolina stuck with the first-year NHLer from there and it's been ... good. But that also feels precarious. Bussi's strength appears to be in making the save when Carolina needs it most. His save on Brett Howden in the third period of Game 5 was huge, as was the stop on Shea Theodore in the night's final moments. That's a valuable asset going into the Hurricanes' most important tilt of the season, but given that Andersen isn't even dressing now -- and it's Pyotr Kochetkov and AHL call-up Amir Miftakhov providing insurance behind Bussi -- it just all feels very unstable.
Hart hasn't been perfect in this series either, but he's a reliable, known presence to his team in the postseason. Brind'Amour isn't likely to shed light on what the deal is with Andersen, and we shouldn't expect Andersen to suddenly be prepared to step back into any sort of role here. Goaltending is just such a critical piece of championship-winning teams, and the Hurricanes are rolling the dice -- pardon the pun -- with some untested postseason newbies.