Backed by a relentless forecheck and suffocating defensive pressure, the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 on Sunday night to capture the 2nd Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Goaltender Brandon Bussi had a 22 save shutout, Jackson Blake registered a goal and an assist, Taylor Hall potted a goal, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored an empty netter to seal the deal in a true team win. Unlike Vegas, who had they won would have easily given the Conn Smythe trophy to Mitch Marner, Carolina’s balanced attack left many wondering who would earn the postseason MVP honours for the team.
In the end it would be 37 year old Jordan Staal, who saved his best performance for the finals who would be selected, making him the oldest Conn Smythe winner in league history.
“It’s amazing,” Staal said. “This is something I’ve been going after ever since we got the first one. You want to win it again and again and again. What a feeling, what a battle. The boys were grinding today, my goodness. So many individual efforts just to keep the puck out of our net. It was an amazing ride. I’m just so proud of these guys.”
“I’m so happy for these guys. It just means so much to see how happy these guys are,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters. “It’s sticking with it. We knew what we had here. … It’s such a great story with this team. I’m just really proud.”
Carolina’s victory ends a remarkable run from Vegas who, in late March, made the bold move to relieve head coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties behind the bench and brought in John Tortorella for the remainder of the season. Clearly motivated by the move, the team would go on to eliminate Utah, Anaheim and Colorado en route to the franchise’s 3rd Stanley Cup Finals appearance in franchise history.
“I feel very fortunate to get to know the team, get to know the organization, a first-class organization and just have the opportunity,” Tortorella said after the loss. “Like I said, I’ve wanted to coach, I want to coach, and to jump into this with this, with this gang, I feel so fortunate.”
The city of Raleigh, NC has announced that they will host the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup parade on Saturday, June 20th beginning at 11am. The procession and street party are slated to take place along Fayetteville St. as confirmed by Governor Josh Stein.
For Carolina, it will be a hazy next couple of days as players will revel in their victory at numerous celebrations across the country. But for NHL fans, there won’t be much of a “downtime” as the 2026 NHL Entry Draft is set to take place on June 26th & 27th at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY.
Round 1 is set to kick off on Friday night at 7pm ET, while rounds 2-7 will begin on Saturday, June 27th at 10am ET.
Photo: Mack Male. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.