Hurricanes need to tighten defensive system to even Stanley Cup Final

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2025-26 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher.

In this edition, Craig Johnson, a former assistant with the Anaheim Ducks and Ontario of the American Hockey League, and development coach with the Los Angeles Kings, writes about what he saw in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final and some fixes he thinks the Carolina Hurricanes can make for Game 2 at Lenovo Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

It's clear from watching Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final that the Vegas Golden Knights' prep for the series involved understanding when a team is in layered 1-on-1 defending and what to do in that situation.

The Hurricanes are a layered man-to-man defending team, and in Game 1 you saw the Golden Knights find a way to exploit that defensive system in brief moments and capitalize when they did to win 5-4 at Lenovo Center on Tuesday.

Vegas put a lot of pucks to the slot and was able to beat the opponent to the open pocket.

When you're an offensive guy in the offensive zone, if you can get a little separation, the man defending you to where you get more than a half a stick away, you can activate the 'D.' You saw the Golden Knights activating the 'D.'

If you can make a play or make a pass and you can jump by a guy, just try to win that quick little step or two steps, you're going to get chances and you're going to win that offensive gap or offensive positioning that you need to score.

It happened on Vegas' first goal, after it was down 2-0 and coach John Tortorella gave the team the business a little about too much east-west hockey, reminding them to stay patient too.

That is great in-game coaching. In 90 seconds at the bench, Tortorella identified the deviation from the game plan, corrected it, the team executed it and his team scored three straight goals.

That is a veteran team that doesn't panic, diagnoses problems in real time, and executes.

The Golden Knights scored their first goal by getting zone time, hounding, putting their belly button over the puck, getting good puck protection, movement, and then it goes low to high, defenseman Brayden McNabb to defenseman Shea Theodore with forward Keegan Kolesar in front.

They got a really good goal by having that netfront presence, getting the puck out of pressure, getting it low to high, spreading it right away and creating, getting the puck toward the slot and beating Carolina there.

Forward Ivan Barbashev's goal that made it 2-2 happened because center Jack Eichel had a quick-strike mentality. 

It was a turnover and a quick shot by Eichel that got the Hurricanes out of structure. From there it was a recovery to keep the puck alive and for every young player out there, watch how Eichel is aware of Barbashev being open before he even gets the puck, and watch how Barbashev knows the pocket will be open.

It was a great release by Barbashev, a great shot, but it was in that pocket that was open and Carolina was a little late to it.

The third goal was another example of getting the Hurricanes out of their man-to-man structure for a split second and taking advantage.

Defenseman K'Andre Miller gets caught going behind the net. Center Sebastian Aho sees that Vegas forward Mitch Marner has time. Marner is not going to score from behind the net, so for Aho to leave and then Miller not to replace him, there was a disconnect.

It wasn't a play where Carolina had stalled the attack of Vegas. It wasn't a chance to double. But Aho jumps down and Marner, like Eichel's earlier pass, has his head up and sees Aho vacate the slot and passes it to center William Karlsson, who was open in front and he puts it in.

When the puck goes behind the net, it's hard when you're in that man-to-man. Should Miller chase? Should Miller replace? Should Aho go? Should he stay? If Aho stays, that doesn't go in.

That's what the Golden Knights were doing, jumping by guys and they were trying to win those foot races into the slot, being first off the wall, getting to the net and forcing the Hurricanes to be a second late in their defensive zone coverage.

It was the same thing on Vegas forward Brett Howden's goal that made it 4-3. He beats defenseman Jalen Chatfield off the wall. It's just a split second where Chatfield eased up and Howden beats him, and then Theodore makes a great play, isolating the defender, moving into the middle and passes it to where the tip is.

But, again, it's a pass to the slot where Carolina just drifted for a second and Vegas wins the offensive gap, the offensive positioning, and scores.

Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl scored the fifth goal that way too. He came around off the wall and beat defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to the slot. Gostisbehere loses him for a split-second and Hertl is open for the chance.

In addition, if Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall doesn't drift from the slot that's all covered, and now when Hertl gets that puck Hall is going to be there. Gostisbehere drifted and Hall got caught outside too.

That happened a lot to the Hurricanes. So the fix as I see it for Game 2 is they need to keep the offside winger in the slot area and be just a little bit more responsible in getting back to the net, not losing their defensive positioning.

If they do that, I think they can clean up a lot of what happened.

This isn't about abandoning their layered 1-on-1; it's about keeping the 1-on-1 defending but within structure, meaning keeping your defensive positioning where you can still play him but you're not making your team vulnerable by overplaying him and losing defensive side positioning.

If you look at that last goal, you see Hall as the winger in the slot between the hash marks. He should be in position to help on the breakdowns but still know where his 'D' is. He wouldn't be as tight to him, so if it did go to that player he might have to give up a shot or he has to go out and get in the shot lane. But by leaving the slot, when there is a breakdown, that is where goals are scored.

In the final moments of the game, Marner made the game-saving shot block. That sequence tells you everything about how Vegas is built. 

Their skill players block shots when the Cup is on the line. Carolina’s players need to see that clip too, because that’s the mentality they’re going to have to match or exceed if they want to win this series.

The slot defending and slot discipline fix is real and it’s the right place to start. But the Hurricanes also need to bring their best players, weather the pushes better, and understand that getting a lead against this team means nothing unless you can keep it.