How the Canes, Golden Knights handle playoff pain: ‘Everybody’s dealing with it’
It doesn’t take long in the Stanley Cup playoffs for a player to start feeling it.
There are the hard checks along the wall, body banging body. You go head-first into the boards after a cross-check. You take a shot flush to the face and the blood flows.
You take the pain. You go back on the ice. You’re playing for the Cup.
“That’s part of it,” said Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, who carries some battle scars from his playing days. “It’s that time of year. We’re getting close to the finish line and everybody knows it.”
For the Hurricanes, the finish line could come in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights. The two play Sunday in Las Vegas, and the Canes hold a 3-2 lead in the series. Win Game 6 and the Cup is theirs.
But until the Cup is awarded, they play on — in pain, but play.
“You throw everything you have at it,” Canes forward Jordan Martinook said. “You’ve got the whole summer to heal.”
Playing through the pain
When the Canes won the Cup in 2006, forward Kevyn Adams took a Chris Pronger shot off the wrist early in Game 7 of the Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers. The wrist was shattered. Adams played on. It’s the price he was willing to pay.
Little or nothing is said about injuries, much less their severity, during the playoffs. But once a team has been eliminated and the exit interviews are held, the truth finally filters out.
The Dallas Stars, for example, had Roope Hintz suffer a double hamstring tear. The Minnesota Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek and Jon Brodin both sustained broken bones in their feet.
It was learned Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche took a shot off a knee that limited his mobility, and that Avs defenseman Brent Burns had undergone a procedure before the Western Conference Final against Vegas and played in pain.
Again, nothing was said until the games were done. Then, surgeries are lined up.
Hurricanes buck perceptions
In the past few seasons, the Hurricanes were considered a team that could be beaten down in the course of the playoffs by physical play.
Not this season.
Canes defenseman Alexander Nikishin suffered a concussion in the opening-round playoff series against the Ottawa Senators. It was a huge body shot from defenseman Tyler Kleven and Nikishin was down and out for a second or two.
Nikishin missed two games, Mike Reilly filling in. But Nikishin was back in the lineup during the second round against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Others who have taken some bruising hits or shown discomfort on the ice or bench during the playoff run include forwards Seth Jarvis, Taylor Hall, William Carrier and Ehlers, along with defensemen K’Andre Miller and Jaccob Slavin, who missed a big chunk of the regular season with a lower-body injury.
“You have to put it in perspective,” Miller said. “Everybody is going through the grind. You’re usually banged up and not feeling 100 percent. But it’s the playoffs, and you get up to speed and feel the energy once the game starts.”
Jarvis, who has dealt with shoulder issues the past few seasons, recently joked that it has reached the point in the playoffs where you wake up in the morning and make sure all the parts are working correctly.
“Yeah, every morning,” Jarvis said, smiling. “Once you get them going everything is fine, but you have to get the body going a little bit.
“You really don’t think about it at this point of the year when you’re nearing the end. You know everybody is going through something and are pushing through for the better of the team.”
Vegas, Carolina trade body blows
During the Stanley Cup Final, the Golden Knights have had defenseman Brayden McNabb need 30-plus stitches to close a gash to his face after being hit by an 87 mph slap shot by Nikolaj Ehlers in Game 2. It was the kind of play to cause people to wince and look away while viewing the replay, and there were questions about how quickly McNabb would return and if he might miss games.
The answer: McNabb, wearing a full cage, played almost 36 minutes in the Knights’ double-overtime win in Game 3.
“It’s a factor, for sure,” Canes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said of the constant pounding. “Everybody’s dealing with it, not just us. But when it’s your ultimate dream and what you’ve been playing for your whole career, it’s a little easier to get through to get to the ultimate goal.”
In the past two games against Vegas, Canes defenseman Jalen Chatfield has been shoved through an open door on the Vegas bench by Mark Stone, then had Stone get his stick high, the blade going up and inside the visor of Chatfield’s helmet.
Either could have resulted in a nasty injury. Chatfield emerged unscathed, for the most part, shook it off and kept playing.
“You let the adrenaline and why you’re playing take it from there,” he said.
The most impactful hit in Game 5 of the Cup Final, a 4-2 Canes victory, was defenseman Sean Walker smacking Vegas center William Karlsson along the boards. Karlsson left the ice with an arm or shoulder injury, did not return, and may not play Game 6.
“It’s been a long year and long playoffs,” Walker said. “I think any time you can lay a hit on somebody, it’s going to take its toll and wear them down.
“So I’m just trying to do my part. We have a lot of guys that are really physical, and I think it’s a key to our success”
This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 11:00 AM with the headline "How the Canes, Golden Knights handle playoff pain: ‘Everybody’s dealing with it’."
