A goal that was made to cut into Carolina's lead at the end of the first period of Game 4 was not considered Tuesday night in Las Vegas. This was after the officials determined that the puck did not fully cross the goal line before time expired.

Veteran Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb fired the desperate shot, causing the Vegas crowd to react in huge numbers for a second. 

But after a video review, the officials ruled it as no goal, and Carolina continued to carry its 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

Under NHL rules, the puck must completely cross the goal line fully before the time expires to 0.0 for a goal to be considered. Officials determined that the time had expired before the puck crossed the net.

McNabb's shot was 0.1 seconds too late, so it was not enough to be considered. 

McNabb, the 35-year-old defenseman, is one of the longest-playing members of the Golden Knights team. And he is one of the three original Golden Knights players who have been part of the team since its start and are now in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time. 

McNabb had been battling strongly throughout this series after taking an 87-mile-per-hour shot to the face in Game 2.

Mark Stone scored the only goal that counted for Vegas in the first period, reducing the two-goal Carolina lead to one. But the Hurricanes pushed it back to 3-1 right after. 

Where the Stanley Cup Final Stands After Four Games

Vegas entered Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead, earned it after a five-period Game 3 that had ended in double overtime on their home ice. The series has shown that both teams could hold a 2-0 lead heading into this game.

Games 1 and 2 each were leading with strong comebacks, making this the second Stanley Cup Final in history to begin with back-to-back comeback wins.

This is also the first time both teams have such wins in such circumstances.

Carolina switched up their play for Game 4, with Brandon Bussi in goal for his first career playoff start in place of Frederik Andersen. He had started all 16 previous games for the Hurricanes. 

Jordan Staal has now scored in each game of the series in the center position.

Andrei Svechnikov and the Carolina forward group have both kept the Hurricanes strong despite them not being in the lead.

For Vegas, Mitch Marner had been the MVP for the last three games. He had scored a natural hat trick in the second period of Game 3. It was to complete the fastest hat trick by time between all three goals in NHL history. 

Game 5 of the series will be played on Thursday.

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Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Koushik Biswas