The Carolina Hurricanes know what it’s like to get hot during the Stanley Cup playoffs. They also know how to bounce back from a series-opening loss.
The Hurricanes also realize there’s still plenty of time to accomplish both heading into Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Carolina began the postseason with eight straight victories before getting blown out, 6-2, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
The Hurricanes bounced back with four straight victories against the Canadiens to win their third consecutive best-of-7 series but then lost 5-4 back home in Game 1 against the Golden Knights on Tuesday.
“It’s one game,” said Carolina forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who scored two goals in the first period of Game 1 to give the Hurricanes an early 2-0 lead. “Obviously, we would rather be up 1-0, but there are six games to go. We are fine with taking this to seven if we need to.”
Now, it’s the Golden Knights who have reeled off seven consecutive playoff victories.
They won Games 5 and 6 to clinch the Western Conference second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks, swept the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche in four games, and now have home-ice advantage against the top team from the East.
“We’re a really good team, and I think we have a really good locker room,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “I think (the Golden Knights) understand these types of situations because they’ve lived through them, and they’ve won, a lot of these guys. So, that’s what you rest on.
“For me as a coach,” Tortorella continued, “I have all the confidence in the world, no matter where those flows go, we’re not going to get into a panic mode by any means.”
Tortorella took over after Bruce Cassidy was fired with two weeks to go in the regular season. The Golden Knights have responded by going 20-4-1 under Tortorella.
One of the Vegas players who has caught fire at the right time is forward Tomas Hertl, who scored the tie-breaking goal with 3:24 left in Game 1. He also broke a 3-3 tie early in the third period of a 5-3 win against the Avalanche in Game 3.
Hertl had gone 29 games without a goal before scoring late in the Game 4 loss against the Ducks on May 10, the last time the Golden Knights were defeated.
“Once he scored a goal, his game kind of changed,” Tortorella said. “He was working at the other parts of his game, but we just needed more from him, and he’s come through at a very important time, and given us some consistent minutes.”
Carolina will no doubt harken back to its Game 2 performance against Montreal after getting run over in Game 1. The Hurricanes won 3-2 in overtime to even the series, won in overtime again in Game 3, and then overwhelmed the Canadians in Games 4 and 5.
“We’ve got to get up to speed on how this game and this series is going to go,” said Carolina defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who scored a third-period goal to tie Game 1 at 4-4. “We certainly got a taste of that now. And similarly, we made a lot of mistakes in that first game (against the Canadiens). It cost us, but you can’t make them.”
