Jordan Staal has scored in every game of this Stanley Cup Final.
That is not a sentence you read often. Five games into the series, the 37-year-old Hurricanes captain has six goals against the Vegas Golden Knights. He has become the first player in 43 years to score in each of the first five games of a Stanley Cup Final, joining a list that stretches back to Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau. He is trying to win the Stanley Cup without his older brother Eric, who lifted it with Carolina in 2006.
Twenty years later, the Hurricanes are back at the same distance from the trophy. One game away.
The series so far
Carolina lead this series 3-2. Vegas conceded four goals in each of the first four games, and Carter Hart, their starting goaltender, became the first netminder in NHL history to allow four or more goals in each of the first four Finals games. His GAA in this series stands at 3.90 with a .855 save percentage, a dramatic drop from his 2.22 GAA and .924 save percentage in the 21 games before the Final.
Game 5 went to Carolina. Final score: Hurricanes 4, Golden Knights 2, played at PNC Arena in Raleigh. Andrei Svechnikov scored twice on the power play. Jordan Staal scored in the first period, which is how this series tends to go. Sebastian Aho added a second-period goal. For Vegas, Ivan Dorofeyev scored twice. It was not enough.
The Golden Knights’ power play scored twice in Game 5 and still lost. Their best offensive player on the night produced two goals, and Carolina still won. That tells you where this series stands.
What Vegas needs
The Golden Knights have T-Mobile Arena. They have a sold-out crowd that has turned one of the league’s newer buildings into one of its loudest. They had the home advantage in their 2023 championship run, and they know how to use it.
What they need from Hart is a performance closer to his regular-season standard. His numbers through the broader playoffs were excellent: 14-7 record, 2.59 GAA, .907 save percentage across 21 appearances. The drop in the Final has been sharp and unexplained. A return to that form would change this game entirely.
They also need their skaters to limit the opportunities Staal is getting. He has been scoring at a rate that is genuinely historic. You do not often have to worry about a 37-year-old being the most dangerous forward on the ice in the Stanley Cup Final, but that is the reality of this series.
Carolina’s position
The Hurricanes need one more win to bring the Stanley Cup back to Raleigh for the first time since Jordan Staal watched his brother Eric lift it. They have been the more complete team in this series, their penalty kill has been reliable, and their second-period hockey in particular has been difficult to handle.
The question is whether they can manage a road elimination game. The last time these teams played in Las Vegas, in Game 4, Carolina won. They have shown they can win at T-Mobile Arena. The history says they can close this out.
The lean
Carolina’s form in this series, their defensive structure, and Staal’s remarkable goal-scoring run all point one way. Vegas at home with a must-win desperation factor points the other.
This is the game that tests both things at once. T-Mobile Arena, Sunday, 8pm ET. It has been a good Stanley Cup Final. Game 6 is set up to be the best game in it.
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