Analysis: Golden Knights make Hurricanes look human in massive Game 1 win

One of the culprits for Tomas Hertl’s near 10-week goalless drought that didn’t end until earlier in the Stanley Cup playoffs was his inability to shed defenders and create separation.

So, it was striking late in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night when Hertl cut past standout opposing defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to get loose in front of the net.    

Linemate Colton Sissons noticed how Hertl split Gostisbehere and Taylor Hall — another one of the Hurricanes' best players throughout this postseason — and backhanded him the puck. Hertl wristed it past Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen to break a tie and score the game-winning goal with less than four minutes left to play in a 5-4 Vegas victory at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.

The Golden Knights cracked what had looked like a cloak of near invincibility for the Hurricanes through the Eastern Conference playoffs in the opener of the teams’ best-of-seven series.

Vegas may not have dismantled Carolina margin-wise, but the style in which the visitors prevailed must have raised some eyebrows.

Hertl’s goal wasn’t the only one that came as a result of the Golden Knights finding open ice in high-danger spots. Ivan Barbashev also beat Andersen blocker-side with a wrister from the faceoff circle 30 seconds into the second period.

Barbashev’s sixth postseason goal tied the score at 2-2 after Carolina winger Nikolaj Ehlers found the net both 25 seconds and 12 minutes into the game. A 2-0 Carolina lead may have bordered on feeling insurmountable to pessimistic Vegas fans given how the rest of the playoffs had gone. 

The Hurricanes have suffocated opponents with defense while nursing leads throughout the first three rounds, but couldn’t cover up the Golden Knights in the same fashion. 

Four minutes after Barbashev’s goal, William Karlsson — like Hertl, another Knight whose looked a stepped slower in the playoffs after returning from a long injury — cashed in on a wide-open chance from the slot off a backhanded pass from Mitch Marner.

That gave the Golden Knights their first lead at 3-2, but it was short-lived as Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal snuck a puck past goalie Carter Hart later in the period from around the same spot as Barbashev’s goal. 

Hart and Andersen had received much of the credit for their teams’ dominant runs through the playoffs but both looked rattled in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Hart finished with an .852 save percentage — stopping 23 of 27 shots — but that was enough next to Andersen’s .783 from allowing five goals on 23 shots.

At one point from the end of the first period into the second, Vegas scored on three of five shots on net.

The Golden Knights’ got on the scoreboard initially by defenseman Shea Theodore firing a low laser through traffic at 13:28 of the first period. Theodore struck again to start the third period, setting Brett Howden up with his playoff-leading 11^th goal with a pass that snuck through the heart of the Hurricanes’ defense.

Carolina equalized 10 minutes later when Gostisbehere scored out of a faceoff following a controversial icing call on Vegas.

Vegas coach John Tortorella was irate on the bench, but his team kept its composure. Hertl’s goal came a little more than five minutes later.

Game 1 shattered so many assumptions made coming into the series, especially from the Carolina perspective.

The Hurricanes did outshoot the Golden Knights to fit with their long-running philosophy to overwhelm opponents with pucks thrown on net, but it was close — and the latter had a clear edge in high-quality looks.

Goals rained on the widespread defensive forecast, as Vegas wiggled free of Carolina far more than anyone could have expected.

On the upside for the Hurricanes, they suffered a similar fate in a 6-2 Game 1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens last round — their only defeat of the playoffs before Tuesday. Carolina quickly got back into its routine for the rest of the series.

Vegas improved to 3-0 in Stanley Cup Final Game 1s. The 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers to start the 2023 Final bode pretty well, as the Golden Knights went on to take the series in five.

But they failed to win another game after a 6-4 outlasting of the Washington Capitals in 2018.    

Vegas was favored in both of those contests though and the victories fit well within the accepted realm of possibilities coming in.

The way the Golden Knights beat the Hurricanes in the latest Game 1 felt more out of nowhere. If the Hurricanes adjust like they did against the Canadiens, this should still be a long series.

But if Vegas can repeat what worked starting with Game 2 on Thursday, the biggest surprise yet may be ahead — a quick dispatching of what had been a stifling Carolina side.