‘Somebody had to step up.’ How the Hurricanes found their backbone in Game 2
RALEIGH – Rod Brind’Amour patted his chest.
One, two, three, four, five.
“Can’t measure that stuff.”
The Carolina Hurricanes’ coach was referring to Logan Stankoven’s heart. The Canes’ 5-foot-8 honey badger of a center was one of countless players who found their clutch moments Thursday night in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. But for a good 50 minutes, it didn’t seem like anyone was going to answer the call.
Two eerily similar plays not only had the Vegas Golden Knights poised to take a vice grip on the series but also highlighted what the Hurricanes had lacked through the first five periods.
In the first, Mitch Marner lobbed a deep-post pass from Vegas zone, dropping it like a 50/50 football at the Canes’ blueline. Brett Howden muscled his way through defenseman Sean Walker and fired a quick glove-side wrist shot past goaltender Frederik Andersen to make it 1-0. In the second period: Howden again, this time sprung by Ivan Barbashev, won a foot race with Jaccob Slavin and executed a deft forehand deke to make it 2-0.
Those goals were Howden’s 12th and 13th of the postseason in 18 games, eclipsing the 12 he scored in 58 regular-season games. Flourishing with Marner and William Karlsson on Vegas’ second line, Howden has unlocked a ceiling few realized he had.
Seeing a supposed secondary or even tertiary contributor step up had to be terrifying for Carolina given all the reliable star power Vegas can unleash every night. Marner continues to build a strong case for the Conn Smythe Trophy; Pavel Dorofeyev trails only Howden in goals this postseason; Tomas Hertl has heated up in the second half of these playoffs; and Jack Eichel and Mark Stone remain world-class forwards capable of taking over any given game.
As the Canes trailed 2-0 after two periods, staring down the possibility of dropping both games at home and losing consecutive games for the first time all postseason: where were their heroes?
The Hurricanes’ identity under Rod Brind’Amour is that of a hardworking unit that attacks in waves and overwhelms on the forecheck. No one tilts the ice like Carolina; it held the NHL’s second-best expected goal differential at 5-on-5 in the regular season and ranked No. 1 for the playoffs entering Game 2. The Canes had 10 players who had contributed at least three goals so far this postseason.
But Vegas felt like a match for Carolina’s play style for much of Thursday night. The Golden Knights clogged the entire zip code in front of their net, frustrating a Canes team that nevertheless held an 8-3 edge in high-danger chances at 5-on-5 across two periods. Vegas blocked shots in bunches and lost top-pair defenseman Brayden McNabb in the process, as he headed to a local hospital for observation after eating a puck to the face. When Carolina struggled to achieve any type of O-zone penetration, it began forcing prayer passes through traffic. Nothing seemed to be working. Brind’Amour made an adjustment for the third period, including moving checker Jordan Martinook into Seth Jarvis’ right-wing spot on the first line.
It seemed like none of the pieces on Brind’Amour’s chess board were the correct ones in Game 2. And that was after the first line already no-showed in Game 1 of the series. It highlighted the age-old problem with the Hurricanes’ roster construction: during the rare games in which they’re outgunned and outscored, they lack the grade of superstar who can impose his will on the other team, take over a game and drag his team out of a hole. In Marner, Eichel and Stone, Vegas arguably has three players of that caliber – not to mention a litany of support players like Howden popping off. The Canes haven’t had a 100-point scorer or even a 90-point scorer since Eric Staal in 2005-06. Their last 40-goal scorer was Eric Staal in 2008-09. Can they win the Stanley Cup without someone capable of executing true magic when it’s needed most? It wasn’t looking that way for two and a half periods Thursday night.
But the superstar system is not, to borrow a term Mark Jankowski used after Game 2, Carolina Hurricanes hockey. This is the death-by-a-thousand-cuts group that wins by outworking its opponents. And the pushback arrived just when the rowdy Lenovo Center crowd, many of them having taken off their shirts for “tarps off” mode, craved it most.
First came a stellar individual effort from Stankoven, who stripped Vegas blueliner Rasmus Andersson behind the net and banked the puck in off defender Jeremy Lauzon.
“It’s just, he just keeps doing it night in and night out,” Brind’Amour said. “Determination, all that stuff, it’s pretty amazing.”
Next came Jankowski’s equalizer after William Carrier made an incredible desperation pass to spring him while falling to the ice.
“The first 10 minutes, the third wasn’t great, and somebody had to step up,” Brind’Amour said. “Somebody had to make a play, and that’s what happened. Stanks makes a play. All of a sudden you get the building going again, and then somebody else made a play. Will Carrier makes an unbelievable play. And then Janks, great shot. So all of a sudden, the game starts over and you go from there.”
“This is a tough building to play in when it gets going like that, and the boys started to feel pretty good with themselves, and we got going,” Jordan Staal said. “But just proud of the group for just staying with it, staying with it, staying with it, being patient and finding a way.”
In the night’s most controversial moment, Golden Knights coach John Tortorella whiffed on a challenge after Barbashev jabbed a puck past Canes goalie Frederik Andersen when he appeared to have frozen the puck. Vegas was assessed a penalty for the bad challenge, and Jordan Staal scored the go-ahead goal with 4:35 to go. Fellow captain Mark Stone answered with 1:21 left on the clock, sending the game to overtime.
But it was Jarvis’ turn to finally make a major playoff contribution after a Tomas Hertl tripping call sent Carolina to a power play in the extra frame. Teed up by a Shayne Gostisbehere pass, Jarvis stepped into a one-timer for just his fourth goal of the postseason.
Four big moments, four different goal scorers, and the Canes found their backbone Thursday night. It’s becoming clear this series represents a clash between identities and team-building strategies. The Golden Knights chase the shiny thing and have built a team full of high-end, high-profile, highly paid athletes. The Hurricanes eschew the star system for a hive mind in which everyone plays like a grinder.
In Game 1, the Golden Knights were superior. But it was Carolina’s turn to vindicate its identity in Game 2. It’s officially a series.
“This is exciting,” Jarvis said. “This is what playoff hockey is all about. It’s tight games and momentum swings and you never really know what’s gonna happen next. So I don’t think you can ask any more from a playoff series.”
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