Golden Knights 'hurt' by penalty kill in Game 5 loss to Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Vegas Golden Knights liked most of their game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. One aspect, however, was a problem. A big problem.

“For the most part we played pretty good,” Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “It’s just they got momentum off the penalties.”

The Hurricanes got more than just momentum.

They scored two goals on five power-play opportunities, both coming from forward Andrei Svechnikov, which proved costly in the Golden Knights’ 4-2 loss to Carolina in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center.

Carolina leads in the best-of-7 series 3-2 and will have a chance to win the Stanley Cup for the second time in its history, and first in 20 years, in Game 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

The Golden Knights and Hurricanes were tied 1-1 near the midway point of the second period of Game 5 when two sequences altered the game.

First, Vegas forward William Karlsson left the game at 8:35 after he was hit by Carolina defenseman Sean Walker along the glass. Karlsson, who plays on Vegas’ penalty kill, was favoring his left arm/wrist when he first talked with a trainer on the bench before leaving the game.

Then, the Golden Knights were assessed two straight penalties, the first to defenseman Jeremy Lauzon for roughing at 8:56. Just one second after that penalty was killed, McNabb was called for cross-checking at 10:57. Svechnikov scored his first power-play goal on the ensuing power play to give Carolina a 2-1 lead at 11:58.

“I mean, I think anytime you give the other team's best players an opportunity to get on the ice on the power play and feel good about themselves -- and I think, obviously, you're a man down, right? So, you stack that up -- it can definitely get challenging and tire guys out, but we’ve still got to do a job there,” Golden Knights forward Nic Dowd said. “The game is still 1-1, even 2-1 it's still quite within reach. So, like I said, I was happy about a lot of things. We played well for the majority of the game.”

But Vegas' main issue showed up again in the third period. Jack Eichel was assessed a minor for tripping at 3:23, and Mark Stone received a double minor for high-sticking at 8:38. Svechnikov then scored his second power-play goal during the second half of Stone's penalty, which pushed the lead to 4-1 at 11:08.

“Both sets,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “The first two and then the four-minute minor hurt us.”

The Golden Knights’ penalty kill was 87.5 percent (42-for-48) entering the Stanley Cup Final. Through five games against the Hurricanes, it is 62.5 percent (10-for-16).

Vegas went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill in Game 1 but has allowed at least one power-play goal to the Hurricanes in each of the past four games, including two power-play goals in Game 2. Both of those came after the Golden Knights lost McNabb, another one of their top penalty killers and shot blockers, who had left the game after getting hit in the face with a puck in the first period.

The penalties have started creeping up for the Golden Knights, who were one of the least-penalized teams in the regular season (609 penalty minutes, second to the Colorado Avalanche with 597). They’ve been assessed four penalties in each of the past two games against Carolina. They also had four in Game 2.

“I mean, yeah, you want to be disciplined,” McNabb said. “We’re going to play hard, but yeah, that’s it.”

The Golden Knights will try to tie this series once again when they get back home on Sunday. It’s going to take them being at their best in all areas, including the penalty kill.

“I thought we were still doing some good things, still getting chances, obviously," Eichel said. "They scored, so yeah, I mean, they were able to get some momentum off of it, and you know, special teams is a big part of the game, and this time of year you got to be on the right side of it. Unfortunately, we weren't.”