Honor roll
Taylor Hall (Carolina Hurricanes): The fleet-footed forward scored the game’s first goal 3:47 into the first period, taking a stretch pass and snapping a far-side shot past goalie Carter Hart. He had nine points (three goals, six assists) in four potential clinching games this postseason. He also had 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in Carolina’s nine road games, passing Cory Stillman and Ron Francis, 10 points each, for the franchise record.
Jackson Blake (Carolina Hurricanes): The second-line forward scored the second goal, at 13:31 of the second period, and assisted on the first, for seven multipoint games in a single postseason, which passed Matt Cullen (six) for the most in franchise history. He is the third player in Whalers/Hurricanes history to reach 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in a postseason, joining Eric Staal (28) and Stillman (26), each of whom did it 2006.
Jaccob Slavin (Carolina Hurricanes): His stretch pass set up Hall for the all-important first goal and it also gave him 13 career points (one goal, 12 assists) in a potential series-clinching game. More importantly, he was a monster in the defensive zone, using positioning and an active stick to break up chance after chance. He is the second American, after Ken Morrow (New York Islanders) in 1980, to win an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the same season.
Brandon Bussi (Carolina Hurricanes): The first-year NHL goalie finished his Cinderella season in style, making 22 saves and keeping Vegas frustrated throughout much of the game. A lunging, unorthodox stop on a one-timer by Pavel Dorofeyev was just one example of him snuffing out hope. Since entering the series in the third period of Game 3 with what was imagined as mop-up duty, Bussi stopped 81 of 87 shots to allow the Hurricanes to find their footing and pull away in the series.
Carter Hart (Vegas Golden Knights): The Vegas goalie said he had to be better in Game 6 after allowing four goals in each of the first five games and playing to an .854 save percentage. He did so in Game 6, making 20 saves, but the Golden Knights’ offense could not get on track.