LAS VEGAS — This time, the Carolina Hurricanes steered through the chaos — and it was their captain’s hand on the wheel.Carolina, behind two goals from Jordan Staal, including a remarkable game-winner, beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final and evened the series 2-2.Brandon Bussi, starting in place of Frederik Andersen, made 18 saves on 21 shots, including several key stops down the stretch, and Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-netter on a 200-foot shot, but Carolina held a lead because of Staal, who, at 6:32 of the third period, had the poise and presence of mind to fling a shot past Vegas goaltender Carter Hart despite losing his footing in the low slot.It was the exact sort of play the Hurricanes expect from the 37-year-old. Without him, they’d likely be returning to Lenovo Center for Thursday’s Game 6 down 3-1 in the series.“He doesn’t get anxious about things,” winger Taylor Hall said of Staal on Monday. “The pressure is there, everyone can feel it and see it. He doesn’t feel it, you know? He doesn’t get nervous.”“He doesn’t get rattled. He’s never yelling at guys on the ice or the referees. He’s just like, ‘All right, next shift,’ and it’s pretty cool to see.”Ahead of the finish, Vegas continued its second-period dominance in the series, digging out of a 3-1 hole and making a bit of history in the process; for the first time in Stanley Cup Final history, four games have featured a team rallying from a multi-goal deficit to at least tie the game. The Golden Knights got there via goals from William Karlsson and Brett Howden, who scored his franchise-record and league-leading 14th of the postseason at 17:08 to tie the game 3-3. Vegas has now outscored Carolina 9-1 in the series’ second periods.For the first time since Game 1, though, the Hurricanes held a lead after the first. Logan Stankoven opened the scoring 66 seconds into the game, gathering a puck that had bounced off the end boards and backhanding it past Carter Hart. Two minutes, 22 seconds later, Blake put Carolina up 2-0 on a feed from Hall moments after a Vegas penalty had expired.After Mark Stone cut Carolina’s lead to 2-1 on the Golden Knights’ second shot of the game, Staal banged a power-play rebound past Hart. The score was still 3-1 after 20 minutes, but Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore beat Bussi with a shot from the circles that crossed the goal line a fraction of a second after the clock hit zero.Canes hop on the Bus-siBussi became the third goalie since the 1967-68 expansion to make his first career playoff start in a Stanley Cup Final. The others were Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy in 2015 and Edmonton’s Jussi Markkanen in 2006 (against the Hurricanes in Game 2).Bussi got the nod after stopping 18 of 19 shots in relief of Frederik Andersen in Game 3 in the third period and two overtimes. Andersen didn’t dress in Game 4 and was listed as a healthy scratch. Pyotr Kochetkov served as backup.
Hurricanes edge Golden Knights, even series in chaotic Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Takeaways
Jordan Staal, who found the net twice, became the first captain in NHL history to score in his first four games of the Stanley Cup Final.












