Golden Knights rally again, swipe Game 1 from Hurricanes - ESPN

RALEIGH, N.C. — For three playoff rounds, the Carolina Hurricanes were the team bludgeoning opponents into bad decisions during their 12-1 run to the Stanley Cup Final.

But in Game 1, the Vegas Golden Knights' relentless pressure put the Canes on their heels and left searching for answers after a 5-4 loss on Tuesday night.

«They forced us into [mistakes] and we didn't handle pressure particularly well. Sometimes there wasn't pressure, and we made a few poor decisions with the puck. They capitalized,» coach Rod Brind'Amour said.

It was a historic win for Vegas. Entering Tuesday, road teams were 0-55 when down multiple goals at any point in a Stanley Cup Final Game 1. Carolina held a 2-0 lead after 12:08 of the first period.

The Hurricanes made uncharacteristic errors throughout the game, including on Tomas Hertl's winning goal at 16:36 of the third period. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere lost Hertl as the Golden Knights forward moved to the slot and beat goalie Frederik Andersen (18 saves), giving Vegas its eventual margin of victory.

«That one's definitely on me. Just took a breather for a second,» Gostisbehere said.

Brind'Amour said that was unacceptable, adding that «it's those mistakes we made tonight that really you just don't make. And we made too many of those tonight.»

The Hurricanes came out blazing as Nikolaj Ehlers scored the third-fastest goal in Game 1 of a Final, beating goalie Carter Hart (23 saves) on a rush chance just 25 seconds into the game. The Hurricanes nearly increased their lead, but defenseman Jaccob Slavin put the puck off the iron moments later.

As Carolina controlled zone time and shot attempts, they made it 2-1 on another rush chance by Ehlers. Vegas center Jack Eichel turned the puck over to