Stanley Cup Final: We've Got A Series As Hurricanes Storm Back In Game 4
LAS VEGAS - Expect the unexpected in this series.
For example, don't flinch when the game-winning goal comes off a broken play and your captain falling as he whacks a backhand into the cage in a 5-3 win by the Carolina Hurricanes over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4, which tied up this best-of-seven series 2-2.
With Brandon Bussi starting in net and Frederik Andersen listed as a healthy scratch, Carolina came out firing for their new netminder. After Vegas counterpart Carter Hart muffed a puck, Logan Stankoven recovered it and shoved in a backhander, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead just a minute in.
Shea Theodore took a tripping penalty soon after and Carolina was on the power play. Bussi had to be sharp when Mark Stone got a shorthanded breakaway and his team rewarded him when Jackson Blake made it 2-0 off a dynamite feed from Taylor Hall on the same power play.
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Second periods continued to bedevil Carolina as Vegas turned the tide early. William Karlsson slammed one home off a nice pass from Rasmus Andersson.
Brett Howden, continuing his torrid scoring run in the playoffs, tied it up with a wrister that fooled Bussi, using K'Andre Miller as a screen.
In the third period, Vegas had a ton of chances, including a shot off the crossbar from Jack Eichel, but the Knights couldn't beat Bussi again.
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In another wild sequence of events, Hart robbed Seth Jarvis, who found himself all alone in front, only for the play to continue with four Vegas players chasing Jarvis and Staal now all alone. A Nikolaj Ehlers pass found Staal wrong-handed, but he backhanded one while falling to the ice, beating Hart for the game-winner.
Vegas went with an empty net with two to go and got some good looks, but Carolina got an empty-netter with 54 seconds to go when Ehlers put a bank shot all the way down from the defensive zone. The Canes are back in the series.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 8:02 PM.