RALEIGH, N.C. — Before the puck dropped on the biggest series of Seth Jarvis’s life, the Carolina Hurricanes’ most threatening scorer thought back to the countless times he scored a Stanley Cup overtime winner on a Winnipeg driveway.
“I might be undefeated,” Jarvis smiled. “I might never have lost a Cup in my mind. But this is a little more real now — and way more exciting.”
Jarvis does the math. He was four years old, going to preschool and fluttering in Cup clinchers on his driveway net in 2006, the last time a Hurricane scored a winning goal in a final.
Late Thursday, Jarvis — a key cog in the 2026 series’ most criticized power play and line — stopped the clock in Period 4, knotted the series, blew the roof off Lenovo Center, and realized a dream.
“That was the best feeling in the world,” said Jarvis, following Carolina’s 4-3 comeback overtime win.
“I’ve imagined doing that a lot. To be able to do it in real life is awesome.”
The whole night was awesome.
A pair of strong finishes by scoring-hot Brett Howden jolted the Vegas Golden Knights to an early 2-0 lead, and the veteran group appeared set to grind away the clock and snatch a pair on the road.
But nah.
“We were looking for a spark,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour flipped Jarvis down to Staal’s line and bumped Jordan Martinook up with Sebastian Aho, who ripped a game-high four shots, his most since April.
Then they found their spark, from the smallest guy in the series, just plugging away.
A sturdy Logan Stankoven beat Rasmus Andersson for a puck behind the Vegas net, took it hard to the crease on his backhand and squeaked a puck past Carter Hart.
The place erupted. Petey Pablo’s “Raise Up” rocked the barn.
“Unbelievable. That’s probably the loudest building I’ve ever played in,” Stankoven said. “We feed off that.”
Fourth-liner William Carrier fed off it, somehow staying onside, hoofing a loose puck to his blade and putting it on Mark Jankowski’s tape while wearing defender Jeremy Lauzon like a poncho. Jankowski tied it. Two remarkable solo-effort plays in less than three minutes.
“The average fan wouldn’t really realize how exceptional a play that was. That guy is so strong. And it's just like you can't take him down,” Staal said of Carrier. “He wasn't giving up on that play.”
The Canes refused to give up on this game, then they got a little help from John Tortorella.
Frederik Andersen made a sprawling paddle save on Ivan Barbashev but the puck did cross the line on a second attempt that got waved off due to goalie interference.
Vegas’s coach challenged a decision Brind’Amour suggested he would not, then Staal scored on the ensuing power play, as Tortorella got dinged for delay of game.
Power play ignited.
Tables turned.
Dozens of grown men doffed their shirts, for better or worse, and waved them 'round their heads like a helicopter. One fan proudly held aloft a homemade sign: REAL HOCKEY PLAYERS DO NOT WEAR GLITTER.
“That’s the best thing about them — they're crazy. It's an amazing atmosphere to play in, and to have people like that. It's not warm in there, so to take your tarps off and kind of get the crowd going and get the energy going, that’s kind of what kick-started our whole little press there in the third,” Jarvis smiled.
“Yeah, I've not lived that a lot, to be honest with you, in my career,” Carrier marvelled. “The energy was unbelievable. Saw a couple T-shirts off too there, in the stands. May be a new thing, and the energy was incredible.”
So even though Mark Stone countered late and pushed the night into a fourth period, Carolina had its mojo back. The Lenny got lit.
Yet Brind’Amour sensed calm in the home room before Jarvis walked out into the chaos and played hero on the ultimate driveway.
“That could easily have gone a different way of how we felt about it, because that emotion, the last 10 minutes, I mean, you can't get much more exciting hockey than that, right?” Brind’Amour said. “Like, it's up, down, up, down. So, it was good that we're able to just kind of park everything and go play.”
With Jarvis bending the twine in the 64th minute, Carolina’s big guns and a previously slumping power play on the sheet, and a magical overtime record increasing to 6-0 this spring, we have ourselves a series, folks.
“What a crowd, what a night,” Staal said.
Best of five, and everyone’s alive.
“A new shot of life is what it feels like,” Brind’Amour said.
The series is flying off for a weekend in Vegas, but it won’t stay there.
“This is exciting,” Jarvis said, riding his high past midnight. “This is what playoff hockey is all about. Tight games and momentum swings, and you never really know what’s going to happen next.
“I don’t think you can ask any more of a playoff series.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Brayden McNabb took a vicious Nikolaj Ehlers slapshot square in the face and rushed off the ice midway through the first period, leaving Vegas with five defencemen.
“It’s terrifying,” Mitch Marner said. “Hopefully he’s all good. But he’s a warrior.”
Tortorella had no update on McNabb’s health post-game. Kaeden Korczak is the next man up.
• Howden, your playoff goal-scoring leader with 13, is proving to be this post-season’s greatest bargain.
The winger is signed through 2029-30 at a paltry $2.5-million cap hit. Absolute steal.
• Andersen made the biggest save of the night, but the Canes’ presumptive Conn Smythe favourite’s numbers have slipped in the back half of this run.
Andersen posted an eye-popping .950 save percentage through the sweeps of Ottawa and Philadelphia. Since then, he’s been an .869.
To a man, the Canes are backing their guy, of course.
“The save percentage count is a tough one for our team. I know often we don’t give up a lot. There’s still quality chances; there’s just not a lot of fluff,” Brind’Amour said. “I’m not concerned about it.
“But we’re mindful of it. I mean, he knows what he needs. And if he starts feeling a little fatigued, he’s going to let us know. But I don't think that's going to be an issue.”
• Our favourite Stanley Cup stat: This is the 46th consecutive Final in which a former teammate of Jaromir Jágr has participated. Golden Knights defenceman Rasmus Andersson shared a dressing room with Jágr in Calgary (2017-18).
• Excellent viewership south of the border for Game 1, a nine-goal thriller that averaged 4.8 million viewers on ESPN. That makes it the most-watched Stanley Cup Final opener since the Blues and Bruins faced off in 2019.
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