Horrible night for me on the NHL on Thursday, going 0-5, getting reverse swept to lose 4.38 units in Game 5 as the Hurricanes have the chance to lift the Stanley Cup tonight with their 3-2 series lead. Let’s force Game 7, Vegas!
Game 6: Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes (8:00)
The Stanley Cup’s in the building tonight as the Hurricanes have their first chance to win the Cup since 2006 (that Game 7 of the Conference Finals still breaks my heart, 20 years later), now with a 3-2 series lead, their first of the series after a pretty dominant 4-2 win at home in Game 5 on Thursday night. We had a fantastic, really entertaining Game 1 of the Cup Finals, with the Golden Knights winning 5-4 on the road. Hell of a start for the Stanley Cup. The Hurricanes started off hot, very early, with Nikolaj Ehlers scoring just 25 seconds into the game on the Canes’ first shot of the game. He followed it up to go up 2-0 at home, 12:08 into the first. After that Vegas got it going, with one of the original misfits, Shea Theodore answering back to make it 2-1 just 1:20 later. The Knights started the second period hot, with Ivan Barbashev tying it up and making it a new game just 30 seconds into the second. 4:35 into the second, Mitch Marner set up the other original misfit, Wild Bill Karlsson on a beautiful no look pass to give the Golden Knights their first lead of the game. Jordan Staal tied up the game again, scoring for Carolina with 7:18 left in the second. 1:21 into the third period, Vegas took the lead back on a Brett Howden goal, then with 8:41 left in regulation, Shayne Gostisbehere tied it up once again, making it a 4-4 game. It felt like the game was destined for overtime, but with 3:24 left in regulation, Colton Sissons got it out in front on an insane behind the back pass to set up Tomas Hertl for the game winner for Vegas to win 5-4 on the road in Game 1. That game became the first time in NHL history that a road team down by multiple goals at any point in Game 1 of the Cup Finals to come back and win the game. Huge game for the Golden Knights to win, as 75.6% of teams that win Game 1 of the Finals go on to lift Lord Stanley, with an even higher percentage when it’s the road team that wins Game 1. Carolina was definitely the better team through Game 2, but Carter Hart was quite good for the Golden Knights and some timely goals for Vegas made it a crazy game again. Early in the game, about halfway through the first period, the Knights lost their best defenseman, with Brayden McNabb taking a slap shot from Nikolaj Ehlers right to the visor and immediately went to the locker room and was out the remained of the game. Vegas scored the first of the game on the road, with a nice goal for Brett Howden, getting out in front of the Canes defense on a breakaway to open the scoring to make it 1-0 Knights, 13:33 into the game. Howden got his second in a row, going around Slavin as a terrible power play had just expired for Carolina. In the third period, the Canes looked like the better team pressing. With 9:40 left in regulation, Logan Stankoven broke Carter Hart’s shutout, throwing it at the net as he came from behind the goal line to make it 3-1. 2:26 later, with Mark Jankowski flying down the slot and scoring in transition on an incredible drop pass as he got hit to the ice by former Golden Knight, William Carrier. The Golden Knights thought they scored with Freddie Andersen not freezing the puck and the cigarette machine, Ivan Barbashev pushing it into the net, but it was called no goal on the ice right away. I thought it was bullshit since Freddie didn’t freeze the puck, and Torts challenged it, but it was considered no goal, which the NHL said after the game was because of the ref calling it no goal thinking that Barbashev’s stick stopped Andersen’s ability to freeze the puck. Garbage. With 4:35 left in regulation, 25 seconds after Barbashev went to the box on an inopportune over the glass penalty, Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal gave Carolina their first lead of the game, tipping in a shot from up top by Shayne Gostisbehere. The other captain had to answer back though, and eight seconds after a VGK power play expired, Mark Stone, with the net empty and just 1:21 left in regulation, knocked in a rebound in front from a shot by Mitch Marner to tie it up at 3 and send it to overtime. In OT, with Tomas Hertl in the box for tripping, Seth Jarvis won it 3:56 into overtime to win it for Carolina and take a tied series to Vegas for Game 3. Better team won that one, and the Knights really missed McNabb, playing most of the game with just five defenseman. The Canes really did needed to win that game though and couldn’t go down 2-0 going on the road to the fortress for Game 3. Brayden McNabb returned to the lineup with a cage for Game 3, proving what a warrior he is. The Golden Knights scored twice in the first period, with goals from Jack Eichel and Mark Stone both getting taken off the board for goaltender interference and offsides, which I will admit were both the right call. Then Vegas came alive in the second half of the second period. Tomas Hertl started the scoring for real, scoring on the power play with a beautiful assist from Jack Eichel and Marner getting the secondary assist, cashing my prop on that quickly. Then it was Marner time. Just 16 seconds later, Mitch Marner made it 2-0. 3:50 later, he scored again to make it 3-0 and then really made it look like the game was over when 3:20 later, he completed his natural hat trick, his second of the playoffs (becoming just the third player in NHL history to score two natural hat tricks in one year in the playoffs) and the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history (6:10) to make it 4-0 Golden Knights. He now is easily the favorite to win the Conn Smythe, leading the playoffs in points, setting a Golden Knights franchise record (28 in 19 games) and assists (18). He became the first player in NHL history to record four points in a single period in the Stanley Cup Final and did it all in just 6:26. After the second period ended, Freddy Andersen got pulled, giving Brandon Bussi his first appearance of the playoffs in goal. Then the third period the whole game flipped. With three goals in 39 seconds from Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall, and Jordan Staal, the Canes came back from the dead and made it a game again. With 1:42 to go in regulation, Andrei Svechnikov tied up the game, sending it to overtime for the second game of this series in a row, tied up at 4-4. Crazy comeback, especially on the road in a Cup Final game after the Marner magic in the second period. One overtime period couldn’t solve the game, and 5:38 into double overtime, original misfit Shea Theodore threw it on net, it went off the back wall and the puck bounced off Jordan Martinook’s stick and off Bussi and into the net for an insane OT game winner, giving the Knights a 2-1 series lead. Such a crazy game. After coming in for relief in Game 3, Brandon Bussi started in goal for Carolina, with Freddy Andersen scratched and watching from the press box. The Hurricanes finally got the start the needed to start Game 4 on the road, dominating the first ten minutes of the game. Logan Stankoven opened the scoring just 1:06 into the game, and Jackson Blake made it 2-0 Canes just 2:22 later. The captain Mark Stone scored a nice goal for Vegas to make it 2-1, 7:22 into the game, but the other captain answered right back with Jordan Staal scoring on the power play to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. In the second period, the Golden Knights looked far better. Wild Bill, William Karlsson got Vegas back within one, just 4:22 into the second period and with a beautiful toe drag and shot over Bussi’s silly sided glove with a perfect shot on a two on one to tie up the game, Brett Howden tied up the game with 2:52 left in the second period. I thought at that point, the Knights would rally and come back to win, but Jordan Staal scored his second of the game, 6:32 into the second to go up 4-3, and then with 55 seconds left, the puck had a crazy bounce off the wall as Ehlers cashed in on the empty net to put the game away and win it 5-3. The Canes looked like the better team throughout Game 5 at home, taking their first lead of the series with a 4-2 win. Vegas opened the scoring, 6:52 into the game on a power play as Jack Eichel, drawing Bussi out down low, on a sick pass set up Pavel Dorofeyev for an easy goal on the empty half of the net to make it 1-0 on the road. Jordan Staal made it five straight games with goals in the Stanley Cup Finals, as the Canes captain drove to the net to redirect a shot by Nicolaj Ehlers off a Vegas turnover in their own zone. Andrei Svechnikov gave the Canes their first lead of the game with 8:02 left in the second period, beating Carter Hart five hole, capitalizing on a real stupid penalty from Vegas. With 2:09 left in the second, Sebastian Aho got to the front of the net open and after controlling the puck with his skate after two nice quick passes from Walker and Martinook, floated the puck perfectly over Carter Hart to make it 3-1 Carolina. Great play. The Golden Knights couldn’t stay out of the box, taking penalty after penalty and on the power play, Nicolaj Ehlers on a fantastic pass set up Andrei Svechnikov to go up 4-1 on his second power play goal of the game with 8:52 left in the game. Vegas looked so sloppy and all the penalties really took their toll on them. With 6:11 to go, Pavel Dorofeyev got the rebound in front from a backhanded shot from Theodore, and he made it a 4-2 game on his second goal of the night, but that’s all she wrote. Carolina now takes a 3-2 series lead back to Vegas for Game 6 with the chance to lift Lord Stanley tonight. Vegas head coach John Tortorella’s been in this spot before. When the 2004 Lightning won the Cup with him as their bench boss, his Bolts went down 3-2 and won Games 6 and 7 to lift Lord Stanley. I like Vegas to pull that off again. I think the Knights find a way to force Game 7 tonight and I’ll take them for a unit to extend the season one more night. I like the over again as well, especially at 5.5, so I’ll take that for 1.5 units. I’ll also go back to my player props and parlay Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner to each get a point for a unit, and I’ll take Mark Stone to get a point for half a unit. This is a two horse race now for the Conn Smythe. Jordan Staal’s winning it for sure if Carolina wins the Cup, and I think Marner gets it for sure if Vegas comes back to win it in 7. I think there’s decent value on Marner at +260, so I’ll add that for a unit. Just gotta win two games. Let’s go Knights!
Futures
5u Vegas Golden Knights – Stanley Cup Champions (+120)
.5u Jack Eichel – Conn Smythe Winner (+2000)
1u Mitch Marner – Conn Smythe Winner (+260)
Bets
1u Golden Knights ML (-110)
1.5u Hurricanes/Golden Knights over 5.5 (-130)
1u parlay: Jack Eichel/Mitch Marner 1+ point each (-125)
.5u Mark Stone over 0.5 point (-140)
Regular Season Record: 935-1041-2 (-106.22 units)
Playoffs Round 1 Record: 68-75 (-7.44 units)
Playoffs Round 2 Record: 37-33 (+10.16 units)
Playoffs Round 3 Record: 6-10 (-5.26 units)
Stanley Cup Finals Record: 8-10 (-2.28 units)
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A Town's Zone 