The Carolina Hurricanes were losing 2-0 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game and the ESPN crew was talking about a Las Vegas Golden Knights’ sweep, but then something happened.
With less than 10 minutes left, Logan Stankoven went behind the Vegas net, bodied the defender and then took away the puck. He skated to the side of the net and fired the puck on net. Somehow, it found its way past Carter Hart and the Hurricanes as well as their fans, found new life.
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After the game when Coach Rod Brind’Amour was asked how such a small player could make a play like that, Brind’Amour patted his chest. “It’s all heart” the coach said.
Stankoven has been Carolina’s top goal scorer all postseason and has now notched 10 goals.
Also, ESPN reported that this is the first time since 1944 that a team has come back to win after trailing by multiple goals with less than 10 minutes left.
Two minutes and change after Stankoven’s goal, William Carrier made another extra effort move to get the puck to Mark Jankowski while laying prone on the ice and Jankowski took the puck and went bar down to tie the score. Of course the crowd was going nuts at this point.
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A couple of minutes after that, the Knights came close to scoring to take the lead. It looked to me like the puck got under Fred Andersen and it was blown dead, but it was eventually knocked past the goal line as everyone converged in the crease. It was called no goal on the ice but John Tortorella challenged the play.
After a review, the call on the ice was held and the Canes were awarded what everyone thought would be another meaningless powerplay.
But, the tremendous momentum swing held over and the Hurricanes scored their first powerplay goal of the series when Jordan Staal tipped in a Shayne Gostisbehere shot to give Carolina a 3-2 lead. Staal had been battling in front of the net beforehand and was finally rewarded.
The Knights tied things up with a minute and change left. Mark Stone was credited for the goal which sent the contest to overtime.
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In overtime, Vegas was called for tripping and Carolina went back on the powerplay. Seth Jarvis then blasted in a shot from the wing for the game-winner.
In the first period, the Canes outshot the Knights 8-2 but went to the dressing room behind on the scoreboard, 1-0.
Vegas scored again in the second and took over the game for a bit. Things seemed a bit down for the Canes until the Stankoven play which may have saved the playoffs for Carolina.
Brind’Amour said that they were just waiting for someone to make a play. The coach did switch up the lines by moving Jordan Martinook to the first line and Jarvis to the third, and Martinook did his job and was chasing down the puck and created a couple of chances.
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The Canes ended up out-hitting the Knights, 46-25. Svechnikov, Staal, and Carrier had seven hits each.
Staal won 70% of his faceoffs while Stankoven won 64%.
Both teams will leave for Las Vegas for their next match on Saturday night.
Game Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20252026/GS030412.HTM
Event Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20252026/ES030412.HTM
