Game 4 is a “can’t lose” game for Hurricanes
The fourth game of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final could prove to be the most pivotal point of the series.
The first three contests in the best-of-seven final have been thrilling. The Vegas Golden Knights rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-4, in Game 1. The Hurricanes came back to win Game 2 in overtime, before the chaotic 4-0 rally from Carolina in the third game, only to fall short in double overtime on Saturday night. This has been a wild first half of the series.
That said, the Hurricanes find themselves in a tough spot, as they are at risk of losing both games in Las Vegas, and could be heading back to Raleigh down 3-1 in the series, if they lose in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discuss why the Hurricanes can ill-afford to lose both games in Sin City, and face elimination when returning home on Thursday night.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I don’t think there’s a lot of panic in this Carolina Hurricanes locker room, being around the team, being around the rink. I don’t get that sense at all that Rod Brind’Amour, the leadership group, everybody knows that the goal was to come to Vegas and just win one of them, set up a best-of-three, where you got to win two of them, but you have two of them on home ice. That all makes sense, but with all that being said, I still kind of sit there and go, ‘Oh, tonight’s a must-win.’ Maybe not a must-win, how we phrase it here…because your season isn’t over if you lose tonight, but you can’t lose this one. Going down 3-1 just feels like a death sentence in this Stanley Cup Final.
Carter Hutton: It feels like the pressure is really on Carolina. You could flip that script of the fact, if they do win tonight, it feels like the pressure goes back on to Vegas, because now you got to travel back to Carolina tied. Something I kind of highlighted earlier…first periods have been a big factor for me as I watch this series, I think back to Game 1, where Ehlers was able to score two and they answered with one. They had four shots on goal, Vegas, in that first game. In Game 2, they had two. In Game 3, they had two…27 shots to eight in the first period, and the score’s even at deuces a piece, which is a wild breakdown for me. So, for Carolina, it feels a bit daunting, in the sense of like we can’t start much better and have better first periods than they’ve had.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…