LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal chose the simple approach to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final with Carolina trailing in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n
But, the 20-year veteran\u2019s winning goal on Tuesday night was anything but simple. Then again, considering how he has played against the Vegas Golden Knights in this series, perhaps it was.<\/p>\n
With the game tied at 3 in the third period, Staal\u2019s sprawling backhand shot while in the air with 13:29 left beat Vegas\u2019 Carter Hart and found the back of the net for his second score of the game, and it held up as the winner in the 5-3 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a second, I wasn\u2019t sure if it exactly went in, and I heard everyone go quiet,\u201d said Staal, who lay face down on the ice after his acrobatic goal. \u201cI heard some guys yelling. I was in my own world. It was an incredible moment, obviously, and just let a big yell go and then celebrated with the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was yet another big moment that Staal found a way to spark his team when it needed it most.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old, who has five goals in the series, said as long as the wild and zany series that has been defined by \u201cno lead is safe,\u201d the Hurricanes have to pounce on every opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are fine lines of making plays, and we have to make big plays, there\u2019s no question,\u201d Staal said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a simple game that we can run, and when you know when they maybe call uncle, and you jump on it. And that\u2019s what they\u2019ve done to us very well, as well. It\u2019s just kind of a back-and-forth kind of stress game, and who can do it better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuesday, that was Carolina.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes came out with a sense of urgency by taking a 2-0 lead early to set the tone, and dominated the shots on goal, 23-12 after two periods, and then withstood Vegas\u2019 late surge before Staal\u2019s heroics.<\/p>\n
The series is tied at 2 and returns to Carolina for Game 5 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how long the Golden Knights have to figure out how to stop Staal from adding to his scoring tally.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s killing us in front of the net, Staal,\u201d Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said. \u201cSo, we have got to do a better job around the blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staal became the first player since Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders in 1982 to score a goal in each of the first four games of the final.<\/p>\n
Staal also tied the second-longest playoff goal streak in franchise history, behind teammate Logan Stankoven, who set the record at five earlier this postseason.<\/p>\n
He said he isn\u2019t concerned with milestones, though, or the fact that he has 11 points in these playoffs, including seven goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think big picture right now, it\u2019s too hard to think like that,\u201d Staal said. \u201cIt\u2019s just like, my goodness, it\u2019s the next shift, next play, next game, next everything. And that\u2019s all that\u2019s running through my brain, is how do we get two more wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal chose the simple approach to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final with Carolina trailing in the best-of-seven series. But, the 20-year veteran\u2019s winning goal on Tuesday night was anything but simple. Then again, considering how he has played against the Vegas Golden Knights in this series, … Continue reading Veteran Staal scoring at a pace not seen in the Stanley Cup Final since Bossy in 1982<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1514607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-12 13:28:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1514607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1514608,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1514607\/revisions\/1514608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1514607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1514607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1514607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}