Hurricanes even Stanley Cup Final with 5-3 Game 4 win
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- Carolina Hurricanes won Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final 5-3, building two two-goal leads before Vegas Golden Knights rallied in the second period; Carolina scored twice in the third to tie the series at 2-2 as it shifts back to Raleigh for Game 5
- Jordan Staal scored twice including the eventual game-winner six minutes into the third period, with the 37-year-old exemplifying Carolina's depth — half the Hurricanes' goals entering Game 4 had come from players outside their top-six forwards
- Logan Stankoven scored 66 seconds into the game and Jackson Blake doubled the lead roughly two minutes later, ending a scoring slump for a Carolina top-six that had struggled through the first three games
- Vegas has outscored Carolina 9-1 in second periods across the series but was shut out in the third of Game 4 despite a 62.5% shot share at 5-on-5 — a striking departure from the late-game identity that defined their playoff run
- Brandon Bussi replaced Frederik Andersen in goal for Carolina, with Pyotr Kochetkov (out since late December) serving as backup; coach Rod Brind'Amour said it was a chance to rest Andersen, who had started 15 straight postseason games after entering the Final as a Conn Smythe contender
- Pavel Dorofeyev, Vegas's leading regular-season goal scorer with 10 postseason goals, hasn't scored since May 20 in the Western Conference finals and was demoted to the third line for Game 4
- Rod Brind'Amour reshuffled his lines for Game 4, moving Jordan Martinook to the first line and dropping Seth Jarvis to the third
Why it matters: Carolina's choice to start Bussi over a Conn Smythe-contending Andersen — paired with 37-year-old Staal's two goals — reveals the Hurricanes' depth, not just their goaltending, as the engine. Vegas managed zero third-period goals despite a 62.5% shot share, undermining the late-game formula that carried them this far; the series is now a best-of-three with Game 5 in Raleigh.
