Game 6/Stanley Cup Final Statcap
The stats, the vibes and everything in between
It took me forever to get to this recap and even longer to even start tracking the game in my usual All Three Zones format. I don’t really have a good reason for it except I was just savoring the whole moment. You never know when your favorite team will even make it back to the dance, so you just soak in the good vibes of watching your team go on the celebration circuit. Drifting between fan and analyst was a fun experience for me. Tracking Game 6 was my first time really “watching” it because I went for a walk at the wetland preserve to just zen out after the longest 40-something hours of my life leading to puck drop. I had a good feeling the Hurricanes wer egoing to get the job done but every fan has a sense of dread in them, so I wanted to follow the game somewhere that wasn’t my house just in case things went sideways. I’m less likely to have a meltdown over something I can’t control if I’m in a public space at least.
The house was fun during these past couple of months. I have no idea if my two-year old daughter will remember all the random goal hugs or dad being fixated to his phone for a few minutes during an intense penalty kill or overtime games, but I’ll always have the matching jersey pictures as keepsakes. My mom is a diehard Washington Redskins/Commanders fan & has simlar stories about me during their Super Bowl run in 1991. I have no recollection of any of it, but there are plenty of home movies and pictures that embarrassed me to the point where I rooted against Washington for a long time. If my daughter is anything like me, this is probably a look into my future as a parent. Experiencing this whole run as a parent was special, though. I visited my parents house in Maryland over Christmas and there was a lot of old toddler-sized Washington merchandise and pictures of me in the burgundy and gold. She told me that I would yell “touchdown” whenever they scored and I couldn’t help but think about that whenever the Canes scored. I have a pretty small family & we don’t have a lot of traditions, but sports was something that always brought us together, even though I’m the only hockey fan in the group (somehow Ovi’s Capitals didn’t hook them but the Nats World Series run converted them to baseball fans).
The Hurricanes have always been a big part of my life, though. Whether it was covering the games & tracking them for Shutdownline (A Bloguin exclusive) or making sure I was home at 6 every night to catch puck drop, it was rare for me to miss a game. Oddly enough, this was the least invested I was in the regular season just because life got flipped upside down and the Canes are at the point where the regular season is a formality.
It’s not like there weren’t things to be excited about, though. Nikolaj Ehlers has been one of my favorite players to watch for years, and now he’s on my favorite team. The K’Andre Miller trade was a bold move of taking a high-ceiling player who hit a wall with one team & trusting him to carry your defense to a new level, Logan Stankoven showed enough in the playoffs to keep people invested & the 82-game slate generally has no shortage of fun, crazy games that you always remember regardless of how the year ends. This year certainly delivered on that front.
Leads were surrendered, comebacks were made, a record-setting number of defensemen were used as fans got to see mid/late round picks like Joel Nystrom and Charles-Alexis Legeault play their first NHL games. The process looked different, but it was business as usual for the Hurricanes. Even with a few slip-ups, they were never in danger of missing the playoffs and the season seemed to be more about hitting milestones. We saw six different players score 20 goals and Brandon Bussi break some of Cam Ward’s old records in half the games. It was the most casual I’ve watched the Hurricanes but also the most fun I had following them because there was something new every night.
The first two rounds felt like business as usual with the proving grounds coming in the Conference Final & Stanley Cup Final. Can they come from behind to win a few more games? Can they win a game where the only 7-11 shots they give up are Grade A chances? Is Freddie Andersen going to hold up for an entire playoff run? I mentioned in my K’Andre Miller trade recap that it’s hard to get upset at his front office because I can usually see the rationale with what they’re doing even if I don’t agree with it. They’ve constructed the roster to where they don’t have to go “all in” at a deadline & keep the contending window open for a long time. This season felt like their best shot for the Aho/Slavin/Staal chapter because they’re not getting any younger and the Eastern Conference was open for the taking. Florida’s injured, Buffalo is still new to this, Montreal is still building and the rest of the Metro Division is a permanent state of “figuring their shit out.”
Even if Vegas had more star power, this was the Hurricanes best shot to break the wall down & put to rest some of their old playoff narrative. Jordan Staal certainly played this series like it was his last shot, even though Brind’Amour will probably convince him to keep coming back until he’s in his mid-40’s. Slavin had some rough moments early and played the two best games of his hockey career to close the door. Not that the Vegas players weren’t dialed-in, but it’s human nature to take things to the next level when the finish line is in sight. To me, that's what Game 6 looked like as Carolina closed out the series in the most fitting way to get Brind’Amour his first Cup win as a head coach.
Game 6 Statcap
Here are a few side notes about the five Vegas scoring chances in this game:
Five of them were from Pavel Dorofyev (four out of their 5v5 chances were from him)
Three of their chances came on the same shift with a little under 11 minutes left in the first period.
They went from 15:48 in the second period to 3:14 left in the third without registering a scoring chance, the Hurricanes had increased their lead to 2-0 at that point & outchanced Vegas 6-1 during that stretch.
