Jordan Staal gave Hurricanes life in Game 3 comeback
Carolina Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal has been waiting 17 years for another chance in the Stanley Cup Final, and he’s making the most of it.
Even as his Hurricanes find themselves down 2-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the series, Staal has come up with one goal in each game, and all of them have been big. His tally in Game 1 tied the game late in the second period. In Game 2, he tipped home a power play goal to give Carolina a lead late in the third, and in Game 3, he capped off a furious rally that saw the Canes score three times in 39 seconds to cut a 4-0 deficit down to 4-3 in the blink of an eye.
With 178 career games of Stanley Cup Playoff experience, Staal knows what it takes to win, and he’s putting it all on the line every game.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host Steve Peters discussed the impact that Carolina’s captain has made in his first taste of Stanley Cup Final since 2009 when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Tyler Yaremchuk: On the flip side, again, nobody’s going to sit here and tell you Carolina’s out of this series. It’s only 2-1, we don’t know how this thing is going to end, but an unsung hero on their side… Everybody knows what Jordan Staal does well. He is an elite defensive shutdown center. The fact they’ve gotten goals [from him] in three straight games, and not just garbage time goals or whatever. They’ve got three goals in this series, and they’re big ones. He gets the one to make it 4-3 the other day, which really jolted this team and gave them life. He’s an unsung hero because he’s not just chipping in with his usual defensive play, but he’s providing offense too, and that matchup with Eichel is something we talked about coming into this series. Staal’s been winning it.
Steve Peters: Absolutely, and it starts in the face-off circle. You look at the 4-3 goal that he gets off the face-off, it starts with a face-off win. He was 67 percent in face-offs in that game. He’s 66 percent through the series; that is elite. And he’s facing off most often against Jack Eichel, who’s struggling in the face-off circle… So yeah, Staal’s winning that matchup, and I know he’s a veteran player, but that’s when you need your veteran players to come to the forefront: in a game like this in the Stanley Cup Final. Staal has been the best player up front for the Carolina Hurricanes.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…