RALEIGH, N.C. — Eleven days ago, before this electrifying circus of a Stanley Cup Final began, Jordan Staal sat calmly in his.
He shared a slice of wisdom that is proving poignant if not downright prescient, now that the captain’s Carolina Hurricanes have systematically clawed their way within one win of a championship.
“Who does it better and who stays patient long enough in their game, I think, is the biggest thing,” Staal said.
The 37-year-old already understood that momentum swings and costly mistakes and bad penalties and tough injuries and questionable coaching calls would attempt to derail both powerhouses, to distract them from the task, to plant a morsel of doubt.
“It’s a matter of imposing your will until they crack and call uncle,” Staal continued, before the puck dropped once. “The team that holds strong as long as they can and stays true to what they’re trying to do is going to have a better chance of winning.”
Well, with just two games or half that left in the NHL season, and leaving the city of Raleigh rocking with Thursday’s pivotal Game 5 comeback, the Canes look more able.
For the first time all post-season, the Vegas Golden Knights are showing hints they might crack — but they certainly aren’t crying quit.
“I’m gonna leave my clothes here, that’s for sure,” Vegas coach John Tortorella proclaimed, the Laundry Guarantee. “They’ll be in the hotel.”
How much does it cost to FedEx a bundle of quarter-zips from North Carolina to the Strip?
Because if Game 6 looks anything like Game 5 — the most convincing 60 minutes by either side in a series decided by slivers — Game 7 will not be necessary.
“Lookin’ more and more like Hurricane hockey. And yet, we got to keep ridin’,” Staal said, following a 4-2 game win that he hopes leads into a 4-2 series win.
The well-conditioned home team was just a notch faster and a little more disciplined. They’ve suffered one less injury and are now dressing the better goalie. And their relentless pressure has led to at least four goals per night. Who cares if the production is by committee?
“We want to be aggressive and tight. And when you’re tight like that, it doesn’t really give opponents a lot of time and space to make those plays, and you can… I don’t want to say catch them by surprise, but sometimes guys aren’t expecting players to be so tight,” defenceman Sean Walker said.
“Earlier in the playoffs, you saw us really dominate, take over games, and it really didn’t feel like the other teams were getting any chances at all. And tonight was pretty close to that. So, we’ll look to do that in Vegas.”
Coach Rod Brind’Amour has made a couple subtle but key adjustments — the right-wing flip of Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis sticks out — and formerly weak spots in the Canes’ game are gaining strength.
The power play, which struck twice Thursday, is humming. The second-period woes morphed into second-period encores of Petey Pablo. And don’t look now, but the previously chilly Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho are only getting hotter as the series deepens.
First star Svechnikov admitted that he’s been putting a whack of pressure on himself lately. He’d mustered just two points through Games 1 and 4 and went shotless in two of those. He couldn’t even sleep the night before Game 5’s two-goal performance.
“This is biggest win in my life,” the streaky sniper said. “But thank God we won that game.
“We’ve got one more in us.”
If Svechnikov’s double-five-hole snipe — through the wickets of both defender Jeremy Lauzon, then Carter Hart — was sweet, Aho’s blade-to-tape-to-roof conversion was the cherry on top.
“That’s the reason why Aho is one of the best players in the league, and why he’s been so successful for so long and in the playoffs,” Walker said. “And when he’s playing his game and doing things like that, it’s special to watch.”
Yes, the potholes in Carolina’s path to a parade are getting filled in, one by one. While new ones are popping up for the Golden Knights.
We’d be foolish to write either team off here, but Tortorella’s methodical bunch now has questions in net, up the middle, and on the penalty kill it used too often in Game 5.
The Knights will be better, rest assured.
The thing that might crack them at the Fortress, though, is that the Hurricanes can taste it now. And they believe they, too, can improve.
“There’s still another level that we’re gonna need to get to,” Brind’Amour said, “to find that next one.”
If the Canes reach that gear, some five-star hotel in downtown Raleigh will get stuck with a bunch of metal-grey Golden Knights tracksuits in its lost and found.
• Hart’s Stanley Cup Final save percentage: .856.
He’s the only goalie to give up at least four goals in each of the Final’s first five games.
Did Tortorella consider making a switch for the third period?
“Oh, for Christ,” the coach snapped. “That could be the stupidest question I’ve heard.”
Don’t expect Tortorella to tap to an ice-cold backup Adin Hill now; the Cup champ hasn’t played a hockey game since April 9. Hasn’t won a game since March.
But Hart doesn’t frighten the Canes, and at 24 consecutive starts — with OTs added — his workload may be catching up with him.
• William Karlsson suffered an apparent left wrist/forearm injury when getting crunched into the board by Walker in the second period. He didn’t take another shift, and no update on his health was provided postgame.
First significant injury on either side. The score was 1-1 before Karlsson left, and Vegas’s centre depth couldn’t hang.
“Any time you can lay a hit on somebody, it’s going to take its toll and wear them down,” Walker said. “I’m just trying to do my part. We have a lot of guys that are really physical, and it’s a key to our success.”
The captain became the first player since 1956 (Jean Beliveau) to score goals in each of the first five games of a Cup Final.
Maurice Richard (1951) and Cyclone Taylor (1918) are the only others to accomplish the feat. Throwback stat for a throwback performer.
“Yeah, it’s good company,” Staal allowed. “But I’m looking for wins.”
• A resplendently berobed Mike Commodore revving the siren and flailing his Sideshow Bob hairdo as nemesis Mike Babcock makes news during the Cup Final is something else:
• Frederik Andersen hasn’t spoken publicly nor practised with his teammates since getting pulled midway through Game 3. He has hit the ice a couple times alone and is said to be healthy.
So necessary is the goalie’s break, AHLer Amir Miftakhov was recalled from the Chicago Wolves for this one — even though Carolina’s farm team is prepping to face the Toronto Marlies in the Calder Cup Finals, which begins Friday in Chicago.
Miftakhov, not Andersen, was reportedly Carolina’s Game 5 EBUG. Not to be forgotten here is Andersen’s grief over friend and agent Claude Lemieux’s sudden death.
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