Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals will continue to see the offenses pepper goalies with shots
If you have stopped paying attention to hockey, or just don't enjoy watching it, you are missing out. Hockey has been fantastic in the postseason, as it always is. And the Stanley Cup Final has given us two great games already.
I hope this one goes the distance as we have two solid teams duking it out for the Cup.
The Carolina Hurricanes were almost down 0-2, and then it was almost like a light switch was flipped on for the team. The Hurricanes were scoreless going into the third period. They went 50 minutes of the game before they started lighting the lamps. Then, when they finally broke through, they turned the home stadium into a frenzy.
The team put together three unanswered goals, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. In overtime, the team capitalized once again on a power play and put the puck in the net to even the series 1-1.
It is worth noting that the Hurricanes did a good job of keeping the Golden Knights in a good spot to be able to steal the game. It wasn't pretty, giving up goals in both of the periods, but the defense came through. Frederik Andersen also did his part. Sure, he gave up a late goal, but this was a better performance than in Game 1.
The Vegas Golden Knights probably will kick themselves about this game if they do lose the Final. This is one they were in full control of for the majority of the game. The third period turned out to be a disaster. Outside of five minutes in the game, you probably could make a strong case that the Golden Knights were the clear best team in the game. They also had a goal waved off, and that obviously would've changed the course of the game.
To their credit, even without the goal issue, they still found a way to tie up the game late. The problem ended up being the power play goals they allowed. It was a tie-breaking goal both times, and in overtime, it was a game-winning goal. What made matters worse in this situation was that because of the goalie interference call that waved off their goal, it allowed that power play to happen. It was essentially a two-goal swing.
For Game 3, the series now shifts to Las Vegas. The Golden Knights at home this season are 20-12-9. In the postseason, they've gone 6-2. The Hurricanes haven't lost a game on the road in the postseason. They also haven't looked like quite as dominant of a team in these first two games of the series.
Tonight, I think the best look is over 5.5 goals. The first two games have seen nine and seven goals, respectively. Even with the series shifting over to Vegas, I think the teams' offenses will keep rolling. In Game 1, the offenses were clearly in control. In Game 2, even if we take out the two power play goals, there were five in the net, and one additional waved off. I like the over once again.
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