HURRICANE FORCE: Canes blank Vegas 3-0, win 2nd Stanley Cup title | Live Updates

The Carolina Hurricanes had spent the NHL playoffs waiting for their power play to get going, along with top-line performers Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho.

They had spent the first four games of the Stanley Cup Final being outplayed in critical second-period sequences.

On Thursday night during Game 5, it all came together, aligning to bring the Hurricanes within a victory of winning the Cup.

Svechnikov scored twice and Aho added a second-period goal in a breakout offensive game for both, helping the Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 for a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Captain Jordan Staal found the net again for the fifth straight game in this series after Vegas had taken a 1-0 first-period lead, while Brandon Bussi finished with 23 saves in his second career postseason start.

"I liked our effort for sure, and I hope we're getting better," coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I think there's certain areas of our game that are starting to look a lot like we need it to look. But I do think there's still another level that we're going to need to get to find that next one."

Game 6 is Sunday night in Las Vegas, with the Hurricanes playing for the chance to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since Brind'Amour captained them to the title in 2006.

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ESPN contributed to this report

Carolina Hurricanes winger Nikolaj Ehlers had made a costly mistake in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.

He threw a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. It led to a power-play goal for the Vegas Golden Knights.

He knew he had to make up for it.

He did it, too. Not with a goal, but with a shot pass that perfectly hit a cutting captain Jordan Staal in stride for a redirection score that helped the Hurricanes go on to win 4-2.

"As a player," teammate Seth Jarvis said two days later, "it's incredible to watch what he can do individually with the puck."

The Hurricanes signed Ehlers last summer as an answer in a multiyear quest to add high-end skill, a "missing piece" acquisition for a playoff-tested lineup chasing a breakthrough moment. He's now had back-to-back three-point games, helping Carolina move within a victory of hoisting the Stanley Cup entering Sunday's Game 6.

"He's an elite player, playmaker - that's what we knew we were getting," coach Rod Brind'Amour said after Saturday's practice. "And he's delivered. He's been everything we had hoped he would be, and to our team."

There have been plenty of goal-scoring highlights for Ehlers, who had spent 10 seasons in Winnipeg before signing a six-year deal with Carolina. That included a two-goal game that included the overtime winner in a pressure-packed Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final against Montreal with the Hurricanes facing a possible 0-2 series deficit.

But his passing has proven just as critical. He had three assists in Thursday's 4-2 win in Game 5, which followed his two assists to go with an empty-net clincher in a 5-3 road win in Game 4. That pushed him to five multipoint playoff outings in the past nine games after having just one in the first eight.

Now Ehlers and the Hurricanes have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series entering Sunday's game in Las Vegas.

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"It's going to be really hard," Ehlers said after Thursday's win. "It's going to be a really tough game, but we're excited for it. We're ready for it. This team has been working all year for moments like this, and especially this moment."

Ehlers has looked ready all series long.

The Vegas Golden Knights will be without one of their most important players as they try to stop the Carolina Hurricanes from lifting the Stanley Cup on Sunday night.

Center William Karlsson was ruled out for Game 6 by coach John Tortorella, who declined to address Karlsson's status for a possible Game 7 should Vegas force one.

Karlsson took a hard hit from Carolina defenseman Sean Walker in the second period of their 4-2 Game 5 loss. After a trainer examined his left arm, Karlsson left the ice.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported that Karlsson left the arena for evaluation and did not return to the game.

Karlsson is a vital player to the Golden Knights in several ways. He has played on the Golden Knights' power play and their penalty kill and was a key linemate for Mitch Marner, who leads the playoffs with 29 points. Karlsson has nine points in 15 playoff games, skating to a plus-10.

Vegas Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart said the "no means no!" chants from Carolina Hurricanes fans were "just noise" as he prepares to start Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Hart was one of five players on Canada's 2018 under-20 world junior team accused of assaulting a woman after the 2018 Hockey Canada Foundation Gala. Hart was formally charged with one count of sexual assault on Jan. 30, 2024, and shortly after took a leave of absence from the Philadelphia Flyers. In a trial last summer, a judge found that prosecutors did not meet the onus to convict the defendants on any of the counts. They were all acquitted.

The NHL reinstated those players on Oct. 15, 2025, and they were eligible to play in the league beginning on Dec. 1. Hart signed a two-year, $4 million contract with the Golden Knights and has started all 21 games in their run to the Stanley Cup Final, which continues with Game 6 on Sunday night in Las Vegas.

Carolina leads the series 3-2 and can lift the Cup with one more victory.

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Hurricanes fans loudly chanted "no means no!" during all three home games in Raleigh, in reference to the trial. Hart addressed those chants for the first time on Saturday, following the Golden Knights' morning skate.

"It's just noise. I mean, both atmospheres and both buildings have been really loud and just a lot of fun to playing. Yeah, just noise," said Hart, speaking at a podium next to teammate Mitch Marner.