Hurricanes overcome another 'shaky' 2nd period in Game 4 of Stanley Cup Final

LAS VEGAS -- The Carolina Hurricanes have been able to bookend the first four games of the Stanley Cup Final extremely well against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Not so much the second periods.

That trend continued in Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday, when the Hurricanes jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period before scoring twice in the third to come away with the 5-3 victory.

The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2. Game 5 will be at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC)

“I think the first has been pretty good for the most part and the second, I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re going to figure that out,” Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake said. “In the third, I think we regroup and get back to our game a little bit. They had some good looks, too, and we had some good looks, and tonight we got the bounce unlike the last game (a 5-4 loss in double overtime in Game 3).

“I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because the second periods have been a little shaky for us and we come out hot in the third. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been liking how we’re playing in the third.”

Carolina has outscored Vegas 10-3 in the third period and has been outscored 9-1 in the second through the first four games of the series. The Hurricanes hold a 5-3 advantage in the first.

“I think we’re just playing our game (in the first and third), keeping it simple and not forcing stuff,” Hurricanes forward Logan Stankoven said. “For some reason we have a bit of dip in the second period, but I think our start was great, which is key. It’s always great to play with a lead. In the third, we’ve been able to push lately and find a way to get the job done.”

Stankoven (1:06) and Blake (3:28) each scored early in the first period to give Carolina the lead on Tuesday, and Jordan Staal added a power-play goal at 12:48 make it 3-1 going into the intermission.

William Karlsson and Brett Howden responded for Vegas in the second period to tie the game 3-3, but Staal put the Hurricanes back in front at 6:32 of the third, and Nikolaj Ehlers sealed the victory with an empty-net goal at 19:05.

“I think in the third today we played the right way. We played simple, got pucks out of our zone, and helped each other out,” Ehlers said. “Maybe we didn’t get a chance every single shift, but it’s the playoffs, you’re not going to. In the third period we were OK with that.”

It’s possible that the long change in the second period has been the cause of the Hurricanes' troubles against the Golden Knights.

“I’m not sure,” Stankoven said. “We’ll have to go to the video and figure that out and make some adjustments.”

Both goals by the Golden Knights in the second period started with odd-man rushes.

On the first goal, the Hurricanes were able to scurry back and defend the rush, but during the ensuing sequence Karlsson was left unattended in the left face-off circle and one-timed a pass from Rasmus Andersson past goalie Brandon Bussi at 4:22.

Howden tied the game at 17:08, taking a pass from Colton Sissons on a 2-on-1 rush and roofing a shot over Bussi.  

“That’s one thing to look at just because of how fast they play, how quick they move pucks up,” Blake said. “So, I think we can definitely be a little better on that, but that definitely plays a little bit of a factor I think, for sure.”

Tuesday's performance in the second period came on the heels of Game 3 on Saturday, when the Golden Knights scored four goals in the middle frame to take control of the game. The Hurricanes staged an epic comeback in the third period to somehow tie that game, but they ultimately lost 5-4 in double overtime.

“They play it the right way, and we’ve had some really bad second periods. That’s no secret,” Ehlers said. “We know what we need to do, we just haven’t been able to do that, and that’s something that we’re going to keep looking at.

“You’re up 3-1 (in Game 4), you don’t want to give up goals every second period. (Vegas) is a really good team, they’re going to score on their chances, so we have to clean that up."

Coach Rod Brind’Amour was not ready to pin all of Carolina’s second-period issues on the long change. Instead, he is becoming accustomed to the ebbs and flows in what has turned out to be an unpredictable Final.  

“We’re playing a good team, it’s not going to look pretty all 60 minutes,” Brind’Amour said. “They make a push and just the way the games set up. We’ve had good starts, but they’re a great team and they’re not going to let us get going again. We made some errors (in the second), but it’s a good team we’re playing.”