Hurricanes beat Golden Knights 4-2 to take 3-2 series lead

The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Friday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

The series returned to Raleigh tied at two games apiece after four high-scoring contests. The first period stayed scoreless until the Hurricanes took a delay-of-game penalty when Nikolaj Ehlers shot the puck over the glass. Vegas capitalized on the power play when Pavel Dorofeyev scored off a pass from Jack Eichel.

Jordan Staal answered minutes later with a redirection on a feed from Ehlers, tying the game and extending his goal streak to five games. That matched the longest streak in Stanley Cup Final history.

Carolina killed another delay-of-game penalty early in the second period. Vegas then took consecutive minors, and Andrei Svechnikov scored on the power play to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead. Sebastian Aho added another goal minutes later.

Vegas forward William Karlsson left the game in the second period and did not return.

The Golden Knights took another penalty in the third when captain Mark Stone drew blood on a high stick against Jalen Chatfield. Svechnikov scored again on the resulting double minor to make it 4-1.

Dorofeyev answered with his second goal of the night to cut the lead to 4-2. Vegas pulled its goalie for a late 6-on-4 power play after Ehlers took another delay-of-game penalty, but Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped Tomas Hertl with 80 seconds left.

The Hurricanes held on for the win. Game 6 is scheduled for Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.