RALEIGH, N.C. -- As the late afternoon wore on Sunday, Derrick Lund sat tailgating with his friends in the Lenovo Center parking lot, pondering a difficult question: Is it better for the Hurricanes to win the Stanley Cup in Game 6 in Las Vegas, or lose the game and take a chance on claiming the Cup in Game 7 on home ice?
The longtime Hurricanes fan had tickets for Game 7, including one for his wife who planned to come from out of town if the series went the distance.
“I would love for her to experience that,” Lund said. “But I still need it to end in Game 6. I love her, but we need to wrap this up.”
The Hurricanes took care of any second guessing when they shut out the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0, thrilling a full-capacity crowd at Lenovo Center.
Fans watched Game 6 on the scoreboard screen, often drowning out the broadcast audio with cheers as Carolina players were shown during pregame. The first thunderous cheer came at 3:47 of the first period when Taylor Hall gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. The building erupted again when goalie Brandon Bussi made a save on Brett Howden at 11:40.
For most in attendance, those loud cheers helped create a near-perfect virtual game atmosphere. Daniel and Stephanie Rodriguez might have had reason to reconsider the noisy environment, but they weren’t about to let their three-month-old daughter, Riley, hold them back.
“We have to see the Canes win the Stanley Cup,” Stephanie said, bouncing their daughter in a baby carrier. “She’s doing pretty good. She’s asleep right now.”
The couple has been coming to games since Daniel’s boss introduced them to hockey in 2018.
“There is something about being a Caniac that’s not like anything else,” Daniel said. “It’s the atmosphere of the arena.”
In the upper corner of the arena, a group of about 30 season ticket holders were back in their regular section of 320. Many of them were relatives and friends of Logan Breedlove, who makes the hour-plus drive from Greensboro for each regular season game. With a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period, she could hardly contain her enthusiasm.
“(Jaccob) Slavin is my absolute favorite player, and defense wins championships," Breedlove said. “My daughter is 14. Her favorite is Jackson Blake, so when he scored the second goal, she was just over the moon. We’re all going to cry if they win.”
Midway through the third period, the Hurricanes killed a penalty. Sensing a win within Carolina’s grasp, the crowd began chanting “Let’s go Canes!”
With less than three minutes left and Vegas goaltender Carter Hart pulled for an extra attacker, Bussi stopped a shot by Shea Theodore and a rebound by Tomas Hertl. That touched off a lengthy round of “We want the Cup!”
Moments later, the crowd swelled up once more, waiting for the final seconds to tick away. Breedlove held her hands over her smile, trying to find words to describe her feelings as the crowd sang Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."
“When I started watching at the beginning of the season, we said, ‘This is it. This is our year,’” she said. “And to sit here right now, this is unreal.”
