Following their huge comeback win on Thursday, the Carolina Hurricanes are back in action tonight, on the road for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Vegas Golden Knights at 8 PM. The Canes are looking to take a 2-1 series lead.
Thursday night was one of the best Stanley Cup Finals games ever, with Seth Jarvis capping off a late Hurricanes third period comeback with a power play overtime winner. The first two games of this series have not disappointed from an excitement level, even if Game 1 came at the expense of the Canes.
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All the people saying that this series wouldn’t draw viewers because of the notion that both Vegas and Carolina are “small markets” were clearly mistaken. Game 1 had the highest viewership numbers of any Stanley Cup Final Game 1 since 2019.
Back to the hockey aspect. It won’t be easy, but if the Canes can play like they did in the third period and overtime of Game 2, there is a good chance they can pull out a win and take their first series lead.
But there are three important things that the Canes must do to put themselves in the best position to win tonight.
It starts with getting production from their top guys up front, mainly Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis. Those three have struggled as of late, particularly as a unit. Hopefully Jarvis’ overtime winner in Game 2 gets the rest of the top line going.
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One reason that Carolina was able to spark the comeback was because Rod Brind’Amour switched up the lines in the third period. It’s unclear whether he will go back to the original lines or stick to the new ones, but it doesn’t matter what the line combinations look like — Aho, Jarvis and Svechnikov need to make their presence felt in this series. The recent production from the Hurricanes’ top forwards simply isn’t going to cut it.
The next thing that needs to happen if the Canes want to come out of tonight with a win is the power play needs to wake up. After struggling for most of the postseason, Carolina converted on its last two opportunities in Game 2 to win the game. That needs to continue if the Canes want to dominate play tonight. Carolina’s playoff power play percentage currently sits at just 14.5 percent, and while it hasn’t really come to bite them yet, special teams is proving to be a critical part of this series.
And finally, Frederik Andersen needs to step up. Andersen had seven straight games of over a .920 save percentage to start the playoffs. In the past eight games, he’s only done that twice. Andersen played well down the stretch of Game 2 and came up with some big stops in the third period. He doesn’t need to be the sole reason the Canes win, but Andersen can’t be the reason they lose.
Get ready for another exciting game tonight, because if this series has revealed anything, it’s that no lead is safe.
Here’s how to catch tonight’s action:
Time: 8 PM Eastern
TV/Streaming: ABC; SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 99.9 The Fan
Odds: Hurricanes -110 Moneyline, Hurricanes -1.5 at +220