Stanley Cup Final: We've Got A Series As Hurricanes Storm Back In Game 4

LAS VEGAS - Expect the unexpected in this series.

For example, don't flinch when the game-winning goal comes off a broken play and your captain falling as he whacks a backhand into the cage in a 5-3 win by the Carolina Hurricanes over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4, which tied up this best-of-seven series 2-2.

"It's a wild ride, isn't it?" Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "A lot of emotion, a lot of ups and downs."

After Brandon Bussi replaced Frederik Andersen in the third period of Game 3, coach Rod Brind'Amour decided not only to start Bussi but also to list Andersen as a healthy scratch.

"I had a minute-long conversation with our goalie coach, and he said, 'Freddie needs a break,' so we went with the other guy (Bussi)," Brind'Amour said. "And if you're going to give him a break, give him a break. Him dressing and all that wouldn't really be giving him a night off."

Carolina came out firing for their new netminder.

After Vegas counterpart Carter Hart muffed a puck, Logan Stankoven recovered it and shoved in a backhander, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead just a minute in.

Shea Theodore took a tripping penalty soon after, and Carolina was on the power play. Bussi had to be sharp when Mark Stone got a shorthanded breakaway, and his team rewarded him when Jackson Blake made it 2-0 off a dynamite feed from Taylor Hall on the same power play.

" 'Stanks' and 'Hallsy,' credit to those two," Blake said. "We're all just staying above it and working hard, trying to get pucks back and playing the way we know we can. Fortunately tonight, it turned in our favor."

As has been the case for much of the series, Carolina dominated the first period, but Stone got his Golden Knights back into it when he was sent in alone by Theodore seven minutes in. Stone faked a slapshot to freeze Bussi, then deked out the goaltender for Vegas' first goal of the night.

The teams then took turns testing each other with stretch passes, but the next goal would once again come on the power play.

After Vegas took a too-many-men penalty, Jordan Staal found a rebound in front off a Shayne Gostisbehere point shot and popped it past Hart to make it 3-1.

And because this series has been utter chaos, the period ended with Brayden McNabb blasting one past Bussi - but the clock had already hit zero, so it was no goal.

Second periods continued to bedevil Carolina as Vegas turned the tide early. William Karlsson slammed one home off a nice pass from Rasmus Andersson.

Brett Howden, continuing his torrid scoring run in the playoffs, tied it up with a wrister that fooled Bussi, using K'Andre Miller as a screen.

"We obviously didn't have a great second and the game was back-and-forth again, but we stuck with what we wanted to do in the third and we were patient," Staal said.

In the third period, Vegas had a ton of chances, including a shot off the crossbar from Jack Eichel, but the Knights couldn't beat Bussi again.

In another wild sequence of events, Hart robbed Seth Jarvis, who found himself all alone in front, only for the play to continue with four Vegas players chasing Jarvis and Staal now all alone.

A Nikolaj Ehlers pass found Staal wrong-handed, but he backhanded one while falling to the ice, beating Hart for the game-winner.

"When you watch him all the time, you get spoiled," Brind'Amour said of Staal. "I coach him all the time, so I know I'm spoiled. That's what he is, night in and night out."  

Added Staal: "I've been telling the guys to get to the hoop for, I don't know how long... years. Good things happen there, especially the way they play, there's opportunity to get there. You just need a bounce."

Vegas went with an empty net with two to go and got some good looks, but Carolina got an empty-netter with 54 seconds to go when Ehlers put a bank shot all the way down from the defensive zone.

Bussi finished with 18 saves on 21 shots in his first career NHL playoff win. Playing part of Game 3 helped him, he said.

"It's hard to get game reps in practice, so that helped for sure," Bussi said. "But credit to our team for our work ethic in practice and all the skates I've been doing to keep me ready."

The Canes are back in the series. Game 5 is scheduled for Thursday, June 11, at 8 p.m. ET in Raleigh.

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