RALEIGH, N.C. — For more than 50 minutes on Thursday night, the Carolina Hurricanes looked like a team running out of time. Now they’ve turned the Stanley Cup Final into a best-of-five, rallying from a two-goal deficit and beating the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on an overtime goal by Seth Jarvis.
Down 2-0 deep in the third period, and in danger of going down 2-0 in the series, Carolina got goals from Logan Stankoven, Mark Jankowski and Jordan Staal in the final 9 minutes and 40 seconds, weathered a goal by Mark Stone to tie the game 3-3 and won it on Jarvis’ shot 3:36 into overtime. It was Jarvis’ first goal since Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final and the second of the game for Carolina’s power play, which had struggled mightily throughout the postseason.
“I’ve imagined doing that a lot (as a kid),” Jarvis said. “To be able to do it in real life is awesome.”
Jarvis, coming off the third 30-goal season of his career, was having a quiet playoff. For the Hurricanes, he couldn’t have picked a better time to snap out of his funk. With his goal, Carolina improved its postseason record to 6-0 in overtime.
“Big-time play by a big-time player,” Jankowski said of Jarvis. “Right before he went out for overtime, I was standing next to him and I said, ‘Hey, it’s your turn. You got one.’ And he delivered.”
Staal’s goal, which briefly gave Carolina a 3-2 lead, came on a power-play tip-in past Vegas goaltender Carter Hart with 4:35 remaining in the third. Carolina had the opportunity after a failed coach’s challenge by the Golden Knights; a no-goal call wasn’t overturned because the referees felt Carolina Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen was interfered with on the play, NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom told a pool reporter.
Andersen had made a diving save with his stick on Ivan Barbashev, and the puck ended up crossing the goal line after Golden Knights forward Pavel Dorofeyev dug away at Andersen’s glove in the crease.
Andersen finished with 23 saves but allowed goals on two of the first six shots he faced, and the Hurricanes spent the majority of the game struggling to generate the zone time necessary to dig their way out of a two-goal deficit. Early in the third period, Vegas had nearly pulled even in shot attempts — a rarity for any Carolina opponent and an indicator of just how lopsided the game felt.
From there, the push began. Stankoven jump-started Carolina with an impressive individual effort at 10:20 of the third period, forcing a turnover by Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson behind the net and beating Hart on a wraparound. Jankowski scored two minutes, 26 seconds later on a rifled shot from the high slot, tying the game 2-2 and sending the crowd at Lenovo Center into overdrive.
“The energy was unbelievable,” said Hurricanes winger William Carrier, who set up Jankowski’s goal. “I saw a couple of t-shirts off too there, looking in the stands. That might be a new thing.”
Vegas held a 1-0 lead after the first period despite being outshot 8-2 and out-attempted 27-9 at all situations, thanks to Howden’s first goal. He added his second at 7:23 of the second.
For most of the game, Howden’s production seemed like it’d be enough to put the Golden Knights two wins from the second Stanley Cup title in their nine seasons of existence. Carolina had other plans.
“It was desperation,” Stankoven said. “I think we needed to try and get (to) that spot tonight. They did their job coming in here and getting the split, and now we’ve got to go on the road and try and find at least one.”
Brettzky Howden
It’s been a dream postseason for Howden, who surpassed his goal total from the entire regular season with his 12th and 13th goals of the playoffs on Thursday night. The leading goal scorer of the postseason had one of the biggest performances of his career in Game 2.
First, he opened the scoring 13 minutes into the first period with a wrist shot that beat Andersen’s glove. Vegas winger Mitch Marner pitchforked the puck high out of his own zone, and Howden raced Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker to the loose puck. The two engaged, and Howden tossed Walker to the ice, skated in alone and buried the shot. It was Marner’s league-leading 23rd point of the postseason.
Howden made it 2-0 midway through the second period with another strong drive to the Carolina net. He caught a pass from Barbashev in the neutral zone with speed, muscled around Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin and tucked the puck between Andersen’s outstretched pad and the post.
Howden is only the seventh player in NHL history to pass his own regular-season total in the postseason. The others were Claude Lemieux three times (1986 with Montreal, 1995 with New Jersey and 1997 with Colorado), Jaden Schwartz with St. Louis in 2019, Marian Gaborik with Los Angeles in 2014, Patrick Sharp with Chicago in 2013, Sergei Fedorov with Detroit in 1998 and John Druce with Washington in 1990. — Granger
Canes’ power outage ends
Carolina’s penalty kill is a ridiculous 56-for-60 in the playoffs (93.3 percent), including 4-for-4 Thursday.
But as good as the Canes’ penalty kill has been, their power play has been abysmal all postseason until coming through on Staal’s go-ahead goal with 4:35 to go.
Carolina’s power play had been 0-for-2 with one shot on goal, being outshot by its own penalty kill 2-1 at this juncture. One of those power plays came with a chance to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period.
But finally, after Tortorella’s coach’s challenge failed, the Hurricanes were gifted a power play and Gostisbehere let it rip for the Staal redirection.
In overtime, Jarvis scored on the power play, improving Carolina’s record to 8-for-61 (13.1 percent) and 4-for-31 (12.9 percent) at home. It was 2 for its last 26 (7.6 percent) over eight games before Staal’s goal.
“It’s not (a) secret those guys were a little frustrated,” Stankoven said. “So happy for Jarvs. He has a heckuva shot and he did a great job pounding it in the back of the net.”
The Boston Bruins won the Cup with an 11.4 percent power play in 2011, but that’s not the recipe for success, to be blunt. — Russo
Stankoven gives Carolina a prayer
Carolina was the Eastern Conference’s highest-scoring team in the regular season with 3.55 goals per game, but they were flirting with being shut out for the first time since Jan. 13 and blanked at home for the first time since May 22, 2025 — Game 2 of last year’s Eastern Conference final — when Stankoven broke Hart’s shutout bid with 9:40 left.
Despite being 5-foot-8, Stankoven won a puck battle and checked Andersson into a turnover for an unassisted goal — his team-leading 10th — to cut the deficit to 2-1.
“Big heart,” Jankowski said.
Then, a little more than two minutes later, Carolina’s fourth line of William Carrier-Jankowski-Eric Robinson, so relied upon in the first three rounds, came through in the clutch with the tying goal.
Carrier’s second effort in a blue-line puck battle with Jeremy Lauzon got the puck to Jankowski, who rifled his first goal in 15 games this postseason past Hart.
“Unbelievable play by Will,” Staal said.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour tried to shake out some offense in the third period, swapping Jordan Martinook and Jarvis on their respective lines. It miraculously sparked the two other lines.
Vegas did a tremendous job protecting the house, blocking 16 shots through two periods and 24 in the game. Dylan Coghlan had two goal-saving blocked shots, but individual efforts by Stankoven and the fourth line got Carolina back in the game. — Russo
McNabb injured
Brayden McNabb was limited to just seven shifts totaling 5:39 of ice time before exiting the game with a scary-looking injury.
The Golden Knights defenseman was struck in the face by a Nikolaj Ehlers one-timer during the first period, immediately falling to his knees after the puck made contact with his visor. McNabb skated off under his own power and didn’t return to the game.
While there was no official word on his condition from the team, ESPN reported on its broadcast that McNabb was taken to the hospital for observation.
“Yeah, it’s terrifying,” Mitch Marner said after the game. “I’m going to try to check on him after here, and hopefully he’s all good. He’s a warrior. He’s done so many great things for us. It’s a big miss whenever he’s out of the lineup for sure. But our five D did a great job tonight. I thought they were moving the puck well, had some extended shifts where they couldn’t get off and they just battled through.”
McNabb typically skates alongside Shea Theodore on the Golden Knights’ top defense pairing. Lauzon and Coghlan each took shifts in his place with the team down to five healthy defenseman for almost 50 minutes.
If McNabb isn’t able to return for Game 3 on Saturday night, Kaedan Korczak or Ben Hutton would be most likely to draw into the lineup. — Johnston
Vegas’ gamble
John Tortorella’s risky bet didn’t pay off late in the third period. Andersen made two great paddle saves to stop a wraparound attempt by Barbashev late in the third period, but Barbashev eventually poked the puck out from underneath Andersen and into the net. It was ruled no goal on the ice, so Tortorella opted to challenge the play.
After review, it was ruled that the players interfered with Andersen’s ability to freeze the puck, so the call on the ice stood, and the Golden Knights received a bench minor penalty for a failed challenge.
“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie,” Tortorella explained. “Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”
On the ensuing power play, Staal tipped Gostisbehere’s shot past Hart to give Carolina its first lead of the game. It ended up backfiring, but Tortorella’s willingness to challenge had to come at least partially from his confidence in his penalty kill. The Vegas kill has been sensational in the playoffs, and was great in Game 2 before Staal’s goal. — Granger
