The Vegas Golden Knights know exactly what awaits them when the Stanley Cup Final begins Tuesday in Raleigh. After a week-long layoff, they’ll face a Carolina Hurricanes team that has lost just once in these playoffs and thrives on suffocating pressure.
“They pressure all over the ice,” center Nic Dowd said. “They play man-to-man basically all over the sheet. They do a great job of producing turnovers, and then their forwards are quick to transition.”
The Hurricanes, who eliminated the Montreal Canadiens in five games Friday, are 12-1 this postseason. They swept Ottawa and Philadelphia before handling Montreal, with their only loss a 6-2 defeat in Game 1 of that series. Carolina returns to the Cup Final for the first time since 2006, when they won the championship in seven games over the Edmonton Oilers.
“They’re a great team. They’ve lost one game in the playoffs,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “They come hard. They do a lot of pressuring. Just being sharp with our decision making is going to be huge and getting to our game as soon as possible.”
The Golden Knights practiced for nearly an hour Friday at City National Arena, their first on-ice session since learning their opponent. Coach John Tortorella expressed concern about the seven-day layoff between the Western Conference final sweep of Colorado and Game 1.
“I’ll tell you right now — it worries the crap out of me,” Tortorella said. “I trust the group, but as a coach, I’m thinking (Thursday) after two days off — which they deserved, which was perfect for us — I worry about … you lose your edge just a little bit, that’s a big disadvantage.”
The Hurricanes, by contrast, will have three days off. They held Montreal to a three-game record 43 shots on goal through three games, then closed the series with a 6-1 win in Raleigh after a 4-0 shutout in Game 4.
The Knights have used the break to get healthier. Captain Mark Stone, who returned during the conference final, gets extra recovery time. Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (upper body) returned to practice and could be available.
“Whatever way you cut it, whether you get no time or a lot of time, you’ve got to use it to your advantage,” Dowd said. “I think it’s good for guys that are wearing some injuries right now. It’s good to have that time to recover and relax, but it’s on the players to stay sharp.”
The Knights’ depth has been a key to their 12-4 playoff run. Mitch Marner leads all postseason scorers and is the presumptive Conn Smythe favorite. Dowd, acquired before the trade deadline, has anchored a fourth line with Cole Smith and Keegan Kolesar that has produced timely goals. That line will likely draw matchups against Carolina’s top forwards, including Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, or leading goal scorer Logan Stankoven with Taylor Hall.
“I think throughout the playoffs, any team that’s able to roll four lines that can play against another team’s top lines and also have four lines they can score (is successful),” Dowd said. “Guys have to find their roles, and I think we check all those boxes and it’s what’s made us successful.”
