Hurricanes again turn to captain Jordan Staal in critical moment: ‘He’s our rock’

After scoring the overtime winner in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, Seth Jarvis credited the bare-chested “Tarps Off” antics of the Lenovo Center crowd for helping rally Carolina to a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

As much as the hordes of screaming, shirtless men in Raleigh provided a necessary spark for the Hurricanes, the calm and steady presence of Carolina’s captain was crucial, too.

Jordan Staal scored his second goal of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night, tipping home a third-period power play goal that completed Carolina’s rally from a two-goal deficit and helped set the stage for Jarvis’ overtime winner.

The goal — ever so slightly rerouted by Staal’s stick — was fitting for a player whose impact on the Hurricanes has rarely been flashy. For more than a decade, Staal has served as Carolina’s foundation. He’s a shutdown center, penalty killer, faceoff specialist and captain who remained with the franchise through its leanest years, and now has it three wins from the first Stanley Cup championship of his tenure.

As the Hurricanes head to Las Vegas with the Stanley Cup Final tied 1-1, Staal’s fingerprints are everywhere. The 37-year-old captain has scored in consecutive games — before this week, the most recent Stanley Cup Final goal he’d recorded was in 2009 — while continuing to handle tough defensive assignments on the ice. According to his teammates, and coach Rod Brind’Amour, Staal remains the emotional backbone of a team trying to finish a journey he helped build from the ground up.

“He’s our rock,” said Hurricanes left winger Mark Jankowski, who scored the second Canes goal on Thursday night. “He’s our leader and obviously wears the C for a reason. He does it all for us. He plays against the other team’s top players, he brings offense, power play, PK, face-offs. He does it all. He’s our leader, we follow him, and he’s the heartbeat of our team.”

Staal’s latest contribution came with 4:35 remaining in regulation.

After Vegas unsuccessfully challenged a no-goal call, Carolina went to the power play. The Hurricanes needed a goal to complete its comeback. Staal parked himself in front of the net and redirected Shayne Gostisbehere’s shot past Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart, giving the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead and sending the crowd into a frenzy.

It was Staal’s second goal in as many games. And even though the Golden Knights soon equalized to send the game to overtime, it was another example of Carolina’s 37-year-old captain delivering at the biggest moments of the season.

“He’s been obviously leading us all playoffs,” Brind’Amour said earlier this week. “If you watch how he’s playing, that’s all you have to see. I mean, he has an advantage. He’s a big man. This is a big man’s game. But he’s dragging us into this for sure.”

When Jarvis buried the overtime winner on another power play, it was Staal who had drawn the penalty seconds earlier when Vegas center Tomas Hertl — the hero of Stanley Cup Game 1 — tripped him in the offensive zone.

The captain had a hand in nearly every turning point.

“The building is a tough building to play in when it gets going,” Staal said Thursday. “Obviously, we just needed a spark.”

For much of the night, Carolina struggled to generate one. Las Vegas led 2-0 midway through the third period and appeared in control of the series.

Then Logan Stankoven scored.

Then Jankowski scored.

Then Staal scored.

Suddenly the Hurricanes had life.

Staal family legacy

Staal’s heroics so far this season are only adding another layer to a family story that stretches back two decades.

Tuesday night before Game 1, Staal’s older brother Eric stood atop the Canes’ famous siren platform and whipped Lenovo Center into a frenzy before the puck drop. Twenty years earlier, Eric led the Hurricanes to the franchise’s only Stanley Cup championship, back when Jordan was a 17-year-old prospect preparing for the NHL draft.

Now he’s the captain trying to bring another Cup to Raleigh.

“It’s amazing how time flies, and your memories stick with you pretty clear,” Eric Staal told the N&O Tuesday night. “This is a special place to me and to a lot of people, and especially my family. So for him to be back here, for all of us to be back here, and him to be playing, it’s pretty cool.”

Even at 37, Jordan Staal continues to produce.

He scored 20 regular season goals. He now has goals in consecutive Stanley Cup Final contests. And after helping another Hurricanes rally Thursday, he remains at the center of everything Carolina hopes to accomplish.

The Hurricanes head to Las Vegas with their split and even more proof that when the stakes rise, their captain tends to rise with them.

For a franchise still chasing its first Stanley Cup since Eric Staal lifted it 20 years ago, Jordan Staal is doing everything he can to make sure the family name remains attached to the highlights of Carolina hockey history.

This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Hurricanes again turn to captain Jordan Staal in critical moment: ‘He’s our rock’."