Hurricanes beat Golden Knights in Game 4, tie Stanley Cup Final 2-2

Carolina turned a forced goalie change into its steadiest night of the Stanley Cup Final, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 in Game 4 on Tuesday, June 9, and pulling the series level at 2-2. Jordan Staal scored twice, including the third-period winner, while Pyotr Bussi made 18 saves in his first career playoff start after Frederik Andersen was unavailable.

The result changed the mood of a Final that has swung hard in both directions. Through four games, the Golden Knights had won Game 1, the Hurricanes had answered with an overtime victory in Game 2, Vegas had taken Game 3 in double overtime, and Carolina had again responded in Game 4. NHL coverage said this was the fourth time in the Final that a team erased a deficit of at least two goals, a sign that neither club has been able to stay comfortable for long.

Staal’s performance gave Carolina the one thing it had often lacked in the early part of the series: composure when the game tilted. His second goal of the night was his fifth of the Stanley Cup Final, and it made him the first captain in NHL history to score in the first four games of a Cup Final. Carolina did not merely survive the pressure without Andersen; it used Bussi’s calm, low-drama debut to keep the game manageable until Staal delivered the decisive push.

Vegas still has the profile of a team that can punish mistakes quickly. The Golden Knights reached the Final after sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche 4-0 in the Western Conference Final, and that surge of momentum has made every breakdown in this series expensive. But Game 4 showed how quickly Carolina can flip the tone when it cleans up the chaos and plays through it.

Game 5 now shifts back to Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday, June 11, with the series suddenly even and the margin for error gone. In a Final built on volatility, the next game may come down to which team can impose order first.