That is exactly why the Stanley Cup Final is the best thing in sports. Carolina jumped out to a two-goal lead only to lose 5-4 in regulation. The game was fast, chaotic, and captivating. The Carolina fans nearly blew the roof off the building when Ehlers scored 30 seconds into the contest.
As an aside should all playoff games have an alternate feed with no announcing? That clip above is pure ecstasy. The way the fans react in playoff games is half the allure of playoff hockey and in a typical broadcast those reactions get tuned down to hear Ray Ferraro word vomit.
Anyway, the goal by Ehlers was sick. He was great in this game scoring the first two goals of the contest. However, John Tortorella has his fingers directly on the pulse of this team. He was able to steady the ship, calm down his bench, and allow them to get back to their game. Vegas countered Ehlers period opening goal with two of their own, one in each the second and third. Carolina, much like Vegas, never got down on themselves. They lost their game only briefly in the second period, going down by a goal, but recovered quickly and tied the game to enter the third. Shoutout to Jordan Staal going 17 years between Stanley Cup final goals, though I liked the one 17 years ago a whole hell of a lot more.
The back-and-forth war continued in the third period. Vegas scored quickly off a Howden deflection. Carolina punched back to even the score at 4. It was phenomenal theatre and everything seemed destined for a Game 1 overtime. Destiny did not arrive all the same though as an absolutely beautiful passing sequence gave Vegas the lead with just over four minutes to go.
Directly before this goal Carter Hart made a massive glove save on Seth Jarvis.
Carolina started a “no means no” chant during the game. Little did their fans though that Carter Hart was simply going to say no, and deny, Jarvis to help propel his team to victory. Vegas might be completely shielding this dude from the media, much to the media’s dismay, but he is giving Vegas a chance to win every night with this strategy. If Hart didn’t have a jaded past, he would likely be the leader for the Conn Smythe, but instead Marner is the front-runner (also completely deserving). Mitch, and Eichel, were both held without a goal in this game, yet Marner still made a huge play. Each of the Vegas superstars got an assist but the biggest play was Marner sacrificing the body in the final seconds of the game.
That shot seemed ticketed for blocker side post, Hart was leaning the wrong way, but Marner got in the way of the puck. I am addicted to the thought of Marner winning this series to see the meltdown from Toronto fans, especially if he is going to continue to make key plays like the block above.
I don’t know what to really take from this game. Carolina was predicably sharp to start. Vegas displayed their stick-to-itiveness and depth. The goaltending was unusually poor for both teams, so too were the turnovers by both teams. My biggest takeaway was the fact Marner, Eichel, and Karlsson were all relatively quiet. I doubt that continues and that seems scary for Carolina. I feel like if you hold those three off the scoresheet you need to win the game and Carolina was unable to do that last night.
Luckily, nothing about last night screams a lopsided series. I think this is going 6-7 (wink) games and nothing that transpired last night changed that thought. Carolina needs to get Jarvis and Aho going, something I wrote about on Monday. Without those two filling the net it is going to be difficult for Carolina to win the series. Vegas is too deep and it’s a lot to ask of Ehlers, Hall, Stankoven, and Blake to carry the mail. When your individual talent is less than your opponent, you need contributions from everyone. Right now, Carolina isn’t getting that, they’re getting 3/4th of their lineup every single night. Svechnikov, Aho, and Jarvis simply need to be better.
The other worry for Carolina is Frederik Andersen. Andersen is known for choking in the playoffs and his performance in game 1 is not necessarily reassuring that he has figured it all out. I wouldn’t say that any of the goals were abhorrently bad, but giving up five goals in game one is simply not what you want to see. Especially at home and especially when your team gave you an immediate two goal cushion. Carolina needs to win game 2 and they’ll need Andersen to be much better, along with their topline.
