Stanley Cup Final Game 2 Live Blog between Golden Knights, Hurricanes

Welcome to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes.

NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price is inside Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, to provide all the sights, sounds and highlights in our Game 2 live blog.

8:57 p.m. ET 

The first period is in the books and the Golden Knights have a 1-0 lead on Brett Howden's 12th goal of the playoffs.

The Canes outshot the Knights 6-2, but only the goals count when it comes to winning and losing. 

Carolina will need to figure out its power play - it's 0-2 for one shot. 

The only goal came on a flukey play, but that's all Vegas needed. 

Can the Hurricanes hold on? The DJ played Toto's "Hold the Line" at the end of the period to urge them on. 

One thing to keep an eye on when the second period starts is the status of Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb, who took an 87-mph slap shot to the face in the first period and went to the room.

8:53 p.m. ET

The Carolina power play is becoming a huge factor in this series, and that's not a good thing for Carolina. The Canes once again come up empty on with the man-advantage and are 0-for-2 tonight with just one shot on goal tonight.

You can sense the fans are starting to become frustrated with how this team is going. 

And now Vegas is going on the power play with 2:18 left in the second, Jordan Staal to the box for holding. 

There is a combination of woos and boos now.  

Going back to the goal for Brett Howden, that was his 12th of the postseason. That's in 18 games. 

He had 12 goals in 58 games during the regular season. 

If there are any New York Rangers fans out there, yes, this is the same Brett Howden who was traded to Vegas by the Rangers for Nick DeSimone and a 4th-round pick in 2022 NHL Draft, July 17, 2021.

8:46 p.m. ET

The Golden Knights are on the board. 

Brett Howden beats Sean Walker to a loose puck at the blue line, skates in a beats Freddy Andersen with just Vegas' second shot of the night. 

The play started when Mitch Marner flipped the puck off the wall and out of the zone, almost like a punt, and then Howden took it from there, staying onside and outmuscling Walker for the puck,  

This place is stunned. 

The Canes came right back and nearly scored, but Carter Hart is sharp and so is Vegas, blocking plenty of shots. 

It's 1-0 Vegas with 5:42 left in the first.

8:38 p.m. ET

Scary moment here with 9:08 left in the first. 

Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb took a rocket of a slapshot from Nikolaj Ehlers (87 mph) right to the face. He crumpled on the ice for a second and then got up and went right to the room. 

My Shazam app is on it tonight. 

It immediately recognized "Let's Get the Party Started" by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine fame. 

The fans want to get the party started, but the Canes are still not on the scoreboard. 

It's 0-0 but the Canes are starting to put in the pressure. They had five shots on goal since my last post, by Vegas goalie Carter Hart has been sharp. 

Still, it looks like the Canes are finding their game and this place is rocking now.

8:33 p.m. ET 

The first eight minutes of this game is a lot more of what we expected in this series - low shot total, low scoring chance total and lots of hitting and tight checking. 

With 12:23 left in the first, it's 0-0 and each team has one shot on goal. 

The Hurricanes seems just a tad off their game, missing some passes, but Vegas hasn't really made any push. 

One thing that amazes me in any hockey arena is how many fans do the Ric Flair "woooooo" cheer. 

I'm sure a good chunk of them don't know who Ric Flair is.

8:30 p.m. ET

If the Hurricanes are going to win the Stanley Cup, they need to get their power play going. After a rough night with the man advantage in Game 1, they failed on their first attempt in Game 2, getting just one shot on goal over the two minutes. They missed the net twice with pretty good looks. 

The Hurricanes get the first power play of the game, with Dylan Coghlan tripping Seth Jarvis along the board at 2:29. 

As Coghlan sits in the box, they play the Law and Order tone and the fans chant, "Cheaters Never Win." Pretty funny.

Still 0-0 about 5 minutes into the game.

8:20 p.m. ET

The puck has dropped here. The teams have the same lineups from Game 1, but the Canes certainly hope it's a different result. 

I expect to see Carolina play its best game tonight, it needs to, but that doesn't mean the Canes will win. The Golden Knights are an experienced, veteran and hungry group. 

Speaking of hungry, the media all got Shake Shack for the pregame meal tonight, so I am no longer hungry. 

Of course, Dan Rosen putting a big bag of pretzel M&Ms right next to me isn't helping my diet. 

Thanks Dan.

8:10 p.m. ET

The fans here are ready to go. The in-arena host told the crowd when ABC was coming on the air, so they were at full throat when the broadcast began. 

For the second straight night the DJ plays "The Rising," by Bruce Springsteen. 

Then the introduce Stanley Cup winning goalie Cam Ward to sound the siren before the game. 

And then, in certainly an interesting choice, they played Johnny Cash's version of U2's "One." 

Maybe they are giving the fans an emotional break before the game starts. 

That means we are just minutes away from the puck to drop here, which means we are just seconds away from "Rock You Like A Hurricane" blaring through this arena when the Hurricanes take the ice. 

They do a really great job of getting the fans amped up before the game, as if they need a little help. 

That being said, you can definitely sense some angst in the building tonight with Vegas having won Game 1, 5-4. 

One thing to look for early here is how the Canes come out. They were flying in Game 1, scoring just 25 seconds after the puck dropped, but it didn't last. 

I would also expect the Golden Knights to fire plenty of pucks at Carolina goalie Freddy Andersen, who was not great in Game 1. 

How crucial is this game? 

Consider this number from the crack NHLStats crew: 

Teams that take a 2-0 series lead in a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final own an all-time record of 50-5 (.909), including 10-2 (.833) when starting on the road.

When a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final is tied 1-1, the team that begins the series at home owns an overall record of 20-11 (.645).

7:50 p.m. ET

The teams are on the ice for warmups ahead of this massive game in Raleigh and the fans are ready. 

On ESPN, they showed a shot of each team before it went to the ice - Vegas looked like it was nice and loose while you could almost feel the Carolina intensity through the screen. 

The concourse was packed about an hour before game time, filled with fans getting their last bits of pregame food and drink. 

Of course, they were plenty of fans still outside enjoying another gorgeous day in the South. 

One fan I didn't see on my way to the arena was the "Honk If You Love Hockey" lady. Maybe she was parked in a different spot today. 

I also didn't have time to go see Hamilton the Pig today. Since the Canes lost Game 1 with him in attendance, I wonder if he came today. 

That being said, there were free pregame hot dogs for the media today. Hmmm. (Just kidding Hamilton). 

Besides the big game here tonight, the other pregame topic of conversation is the report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin has demanded a trade.

That certainly adds plenty of intrigue to this offseason. 

But again, that's the offseason, big game here tonight.

7:30 p.m. ET

We are about 40 minutes from puck drop, the tailgate parties in the parking lots are in full swing and there is a huge crowd in the parking lot concert for Dan + Shay (FYI, it’s not Dan Rosen and Shea Theodore).

While there is still a party atmosphere in Raleigh, it’s a little bit tempered with the Hurricanes losing Game 1 and absolutely needing to win tonight.

But don’t expect Vegas to be satisfied with a split. The Golden Knights have won seven in a row and would love nothing more to make it eight straight and bring the series back to Vegas up 2-0.

Before the players come out for warmups, you can check out all of the pregame content from the crack NHL.com crew right here. 

Be back in a little bit.