LAS VEGAS, N.V.– There were two vastly different scenes at opposite ends of the ice at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday night. 

At one end, the Carolina Hurricanes were the physical embodiments of relief and joy. After Nikolaj Ehler hit the empty net to give them a 3-0 lead, the visiting bench came alive. And after the final horn blared, gloves hit the ice as the players swarmed towards their net to mob their goaltender.

At the other end, the Vegas Golden Knights could only watch as their opponents celebrated the accomplishment of a dream they spent all year chasing. As the final seconds ticked off, the despondent home team made their way towards their own net to console goaltender Carter Hart.

After the final handshake line of the season, the Hurricanes stayed on the ice to lift the Stanley Cup and celebrate with their teammates and families. The Golden Knights saluted their fans before trudging off to their locker room; once inside, the emotional scenes continued.

“It’s not a good feeling right now,” said defenseman Brayden McNabb. “It’s tough to be on this side of it… These chances don’t come around very often. It stings.”

1. Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Looking back, the last time that the Golden Knights were in control of this series was heading into the third period in Game 3. They held a 4-0 lead over the Hurricanes and looked to be firmly in the driver’s seat. 

What followed was 12 periods of hockey in which they were outscored 16-6. While they managed to survive blowing that four-goal lead in Game 3 thanks to a flukey game-winner from Shea Theodore in double overtime, they did not manage another win.

There aren’t any statistics to explain why the Golden Knights’ good fortune expired. But for the next three games, everything that went right for them over the course of this Stanley Cup run went wrong. Every ounce of luck disappeared, and every bounce went against them. It was as if the hockey gods stopped smiling down on them.

“We just didn’t capitalize on our chances,” said Mark Stone. “We had a lot.”

2. Goonies Never Say Die

Throughout the trials and tribulations of the season, one thing remained remarkably consistent for the Golden Knights: no matter what the scoreboard read, they were never out of a game.

You can attribute a lot of that ‘Goonies never say die’ attitude to John Tortorella, who preached the importance of having the right mindset and raved about the group’s mental toughness. But Tortorella didn’t take the wheel until March 29th— by that point, the Golden Knights were battle-hardened by the grind of a season where they hadn’t yet lived up to expectations.

“Wild year; crazy year,” said defenseman Brayden McNabb. “[I’ll remember] how we pulled it together and got here. We came together as a group late in the year. Torts came in and did a great job, did a hell of a job. We battled, battled our asses off this whole playoffs, and we came up short. It’s going to sting; it’s going to haunt us. We’re proud of how we got here and how we played; unfortunately, it just wasn’t good enough.”

Tortorella came in and pressed all the right buttons, reinvigorating a tired group and getting them to this point. The fact that they ran out of gas just before reaching the finish line doesn’t take away from the run that they had.

“I don’t think you ever really expect it to be over,” said Mark Stone. “We always believed that we were going to figure things out and get things back in the right direction. And we did that– I’m not so sure many people thought that this team would be here competing at this time of year.”

3. What Comes Next?

There’s no way around it– the Golden Knights players are devastated by tonight’s loss. And, really, after the run they just had, how could they not be? 

“This feeling sucks,” agreed Captain Mark Stone. “I never want to have it again. When I look at everything that happened throughout this season, all the ups and the downs, to give ourselves a chance, and to play in the Final is pretty impressive. But it doesn’t make things better right now… It kills me inside that I’m standing here right now.

“I’m thinking about how proud I am of the group with everything we went through this year to get here,” continued Stone. “I’m proud of every single guy who stepped foot in this locker room this season… It’s unfortunate that it came to an end in the wrong way.”

But despite the obvious heartache, this team is far from beaten. They know their window to win is still very much open. Even mere minutes after coming up just short, they’re already thinking about another chance to win the Stanley Cup next season.

“Just getting to this point, you realize what it takes to win and how hard it is,” said defenseman Noah Hanifin. “We’ll regroup, and we’ll get back at it.”

Head coach John Tortorella, whose contract expires this summer, didn’t comment on whether he wanted to return.

“I haven’t even [thought about it],” said Tortorella. “I’ve got to swallow this a little bit.” 

The Carolina Hurricanes won the NHL's Stanley Cup for the first time in 20 years after beating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 on Sunday in Las Vegas.

The Hurricanes wrapped up the best-of-seven series with a game to spare, winning 4-2 to secure their second crown.

Head coach Rod Brind'Amour, who lifted the Stanley Cup as Carolina's captain in 2006, led the Hurricanes into the play-offs as the top seed in the Eastern Conference and only lost three matches as they saw off the Ottawa Senators, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Montreal Canadiens and the Golden Knights en route to the title.

"I think it was just our time. We weren't going to be denied," Brind'Amour said.

"It's different, because as a player, I really wanted it for myself. Now, sitting back behind [the bench] watching, I really wanted it for these guys because there's no harder-working group. It's just like a proud dad watching his kids go to work."

Taylor Hall opened the scoring for the Hurricanes after just three minutes and 47 seconds before Jackson Blake doubled their lead midway through the second period.

Nikolaj Ehlers wrapped up the win with 68 seconds remaining on the clock, scoring into an empty net after the Golden Knights had pulled netminder Carter Hart for an extra skater in the final three minutes as they searched for a route back into the match.

The Hurricanes' rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi made 22 saves in his first career play-off shutout.

Carolina captain Jordan Staal, a two-time Stanley Cup champion after previously winning with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, became the oldest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the play-offs. The 37-year-old scored eight goals and registered four assists in the Hurricanes' championship run.

"It's something I've been going after ever since I won the first one. You want to win it again and again and again," said Staal, whose 17-year gap between titles in the longest in NHL history.

"It's been such a grind. I just wanted to win so bad."

The Carolina Hurricanes put on a clinic as they defeated the Las Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0 on Sunday night to win the 2026 Stanley Cup Championship.

The Hurricanes had a dominating playoff season as they finished with a 16-3 record.

Taylor Hall started things off this night much like he did throughout the postseason as he got a step on the defense and rifled in a shot past Vegas goaltender Carter Hart to make it 1-0, just three minutes and change into the game.

In the second period, the Canes started to impose their will and held the Knights to just three shots on goal. The “junkyard dawg” second line of Hall, Stankoven, and Blake went to work and held the puck in the Vegas zone for quite some time until Stankoven found Blake who had a slightly deflected shot go in to make it, 2-0.

Jackson Blake led the team in scoring these playoffs with 20 points, (7G 13A) with Hall right behind him at 19 points, (7G 12A).

The score remained that way as team defense and some timely goaltending by Brandon Bussi held back the Golden Knights until Nikolaj Ehlers scored an empty-netter to seal the deal.

Jordan Staal won the Conn Smythe and the 37 year old was the oldest winner ever of the MVP award. Staal led the group in so many ways but one important stat was that he scored goals in five straight games in the Final, tying an all-time record.

There are countless stories of how different players contributed in their own ways. Jaccob Slavin, K’Andre Miller, Sean Walker, and the rest of the team were all special but we will go into more detail about them later.

There will be endless interviews, pictures, and articles to see and read now from all over. We will try to do our best to do our part here.

It was the first time the Golden Knights were shutout this postseason.

The Victory Parade is scheduled for Saturday in downtown Raleigh. More details about that later.

Here are a few things of interest I found online.

Aagin, I could do this all night but I need to publish this now.

I want to thank all the Canes Country writers, members, and readers for a great year. A big thank you to the members who would leave news and updates in the comments. It has been a record breaking season as far as comments and page hits. We will try to keep it up through what will be a busy and short offseason!

Thank you all!

Rod Brind'Amour got to lift the Stanley Cup in 2006 as the Carolina Hurricanes captain.

Twenty years later, he got to lift it for the first time as a coach.

"I'm so happy for these guys," he told ABC after a series-clinching 3-0 win against the Golden Knights. "I wanted it as a player. I really wanted it, but I wanted it for these guys as a coach. It means so much to see how happy they are."

Brind'Amour's team finally broke through in his eighth year as a Hurricanes head coach and three series losses in the conference final.

His hard-forechecking system can be wearing, but Carolina got through the first three rounds in 13 games, so it had plenty of rest. And the coach made adjustments to get the team to rebound from a 2-1 series deficit against the Knights.

Here's video of Brind'Amour celebrating as a captain and as a coach:

Twenty years later. Just as iconic. pic.twitter.com/iruvDa2bHh

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) June 15, 2026

It took him 16 seasons to get there, with some ups and downs along the way, but Taylor Hall is a Stanley Cup Champion. A former first-overall pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2010, Hall spent seasons in Edmonton, New Jersey, Boston, Arizona, Buffalo, Chicago, and now Carolina. 

Part of the tougher seasons in Edmonton, it was Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who were pegged to be the saviors if and when the Oilers turned things around. It didn't go as planned. When Connor McDavid was finally drafted, Hall was likely going to see his patience pay off, and the winning was coming. He was traded shortly after for defenseman Adam Larsson. 

Needless to say, he wasn't happy about being traded.

A bit frustrated that he was dealt just as the ship was likely headed in the right direction, the narrative was that Hall wasn't beloved in the locker room. Stories that likely had little merit circulated. He did admit he had some growing up to do, but it did feel like Hall was getting the short end of the stick. 

He had a strong couple of years in New Jersey -- his best in 2017-18 when he scored 93 points. Injuries struck, and while he remained consistent when healthy, he wound up in Arizona and then Buffalo for short stints. 

He spent two seasons and change with the Boston Bruins, then went on to Chicago. He became a bit more of a journeyman and depth forward than the superstar many assumed he'd be as a top pick. Moved as part of the off Mikko Rantanen drama, Hall found his second wind in Carolina. 

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He won a Hart Trophy with the Devils and produced offensively elsewhere, but he said playing in Carolina was the most fun he'd ever had playing hockey. Talking about how tight the group was, it was the way they played hockey that made him appreciate finally winning a Championship even more. 

Hall was instrumental in the Hurricanes' playoff run, and again in Game 6 win itself, scoring the game-winning goal. He finished the 2026 playoffs with seven goals and 19 points in 19 games.  

"It's an amazing group. I'm really happy for the guys who have been here for so long. They deserve it so much," said Hall after the win. 

TAYLOR HALL HAS HIS #STANLEYCUP 👏 pic.twitter.com/TntKP0jpCS

— NHL (@NHL) June 15, 2026

Congratulations to the former Oilers first-overall pick. He took a windy road to get there, but he wound up winning a Stanley Cup before any of the core group of his early years with the Oilers, or the core that came after. 

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The team captain gets to lift the Stanley Cup and the biggest question is which teammate gets it second.

The answer after the Carolina Hurricanes' clinching 3-0 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights: Captain and playoff MVP Jordan Staal handed it to goalie Frederik Andersen.

"I did not expect that," Andersen told ABC.

Andersen didn't play - or dress - in the last three games as Brandon Bussi started and excelled for three consecutive wins. But the Hurricanes would not have reached the final without the play of Andersen, who went 12-1, with a 1.44 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage in the first three rounds.

"He's the reason we're here," Bussi told ABC. "He's a workhouse. I only got 3 1/2 games. He obviously deserves more of the credit. He's worked so hard for this and grinded so long."

FREDDIE ANDERSEN GETS THE CUP SECOND 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/nYOfZNhOp0

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 15, 2026

Andersen, in his fifth season in Carolina, clinched a trip to the final with a Game 5 win against the Montreal Canadiens soon after the death of Claude Lemieux, his longtime agent.

Both Andersen and Vegas' Carter Hart had a tougher time in the final than in earlier rounds. Bussi went into the net in Game 3 with the Hurricanes trailing 4-0 in an eventual 5-4 double-overtime loss.

Coach Rod Brind'Amour told ABC on Sunday that Andersen was "a little nicked up" and "not 100 percent."

"I so proud of the team we have here," said Andersen, who has battled injuries in his 13-year NHL career. "It's shown throughout many years, but this year specifically. There's been so many guys stepping up at certain times and it just really shows how good of a team we've been."

The Chicago Blackhawks acquired Taylor Hall alongside Nick Foligno on June 26th, 2023. The point of this trade was to surround Connor Bedard with solid veterans in his rookie year. 

In the case of Hall, a former number one pick himself, he had experience being a mentor for high draft picks at previous NHL stops. 

The idea was nice, but it didn't go according to plan due to injuries to Hall. In his first year with the Blackhawks, he played just 10 games before going down for the year. 

In year two, Hall played in 46 games with Chicago before he was traded away to the Carolina Hurricanes. He was part of a three-team trade that also sent Colorado Avalanche superstar Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes. 

This deal broke Rantanen's game for a while. He never fit in and made it clear that he didn't want to be there. Before the season was even over, they shipped him to the Dallas Stars in a trade that landed them Logan Stankoven. 

The Blackhawks retained Rantanen's contract in the three-team deal, which is what allowed Dallas to get him under their salary cap. 

As a result of this initial deal, the Hurricanes ended up with Hall and Stankoven in the end, who both played a key role in them winning the Stanley Cup on Sunday night. 

These two ended up playing on a line together alongside Jackson Blake, which turned out to be the best trio for any team during the playoffs. 

Stankoven had 11 goals and 5 assists for 16 points, Hall had 7 goals and 12 assists for 19 points, and Blake had 7 goals and 13 assists for 20 points. Over the course of the 19 playoff games that the Hurricanes played over 58 days, these three were spectacular. 

If the Blackhawks don't facilitate this deal for the Avalance and Hurricanes early in 2025, Carolina may have never won the Stanley Cup in 2026. 

For Hall, it was a long time coming. After the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, a game in which the Blackhawks were blown out on national TV, he was physically disturbed. He needed to get to a winning situation, which is what happened when he went to Carolina a few weeks later. 

The Hurricanes play a brand of hockey that is difficult to succeed in. You need to be strong mentally and physically in order to make an impact in that system, and Hall did after an off-season to get used to it. Once the playoffs rolled around, they took it to another level. 

As a part of this deal, the Blackhawks ended up with a third-round pick in 2025, which turned out to be Nathan Behm. After a handful of years with the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL, Behm is going to attend Arizona State University with the hopes of eventually becoming a pro hockey player. 

It would be nice for the Blackhawks organization if Behm turned into a good NHL player, but they did Hall and the Hurricanes a major favor by being a part of this deal. Kyle Davidson has some built up good will around the league, and this is a reason why. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay up to date on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

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When it's all said and done, nobody can argue that the Philadelphia Flyers don't do right by their players, and especially the veterans who grind away and put their time in.

On March 6, prior to the NHL trade deadline, the Flyers made a somewhat surprising trade, sending veteran tough guy Nick Deslauriers to the Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes.

All the Flyers got in return for that trade was a conditional 2027 seventh-round pick, which they won't receive as Deslauriers did not play in half of the Hurricanes' playoff games.

So, the Hurricanes got Deslauriers for free, and three months later, Deslauriers was rewarded with the first Stanley Cup of his NHL career.

Even though they made the playoffs themselves, the Flyers gave Deslauriers, 35, a true chance at a championship, and inadvertently helped him along the journey after getting swept by Carolina in the second round.

Former Flyers Goalie On Wrong Side of NHL HistoryFormer Philadelphia Flyers goalie Carter Hart has set an awful NHL record nobody would want to have.

At the end of the day, though, this trade worked out perfectly for both sides, even if it appears to be a nothing deal on paper.

The Flyers showed the NHL world and their younger players that, if you are a good teammate and work hard, you will be rewarded in this league.

Of course, not everyone does that, and the NHL is a business, but the Flyers did the right thing.

By extension, by trading Deslauriers, the Flyers opened up a roster spot and lineup spot for those younger players, such as Alex Bump, Nikita Grebenkin before his injury, and Denver Barkey.

The Hurricanes assuredly benefitted from Deslauriers' experience, toughness, and locker room presence down the stretch; even an analytics maven like Eric Tulsky went out of his way to pick up the enforcer for a reason.

Deslauriers, alongside former Flyers teammate Sean Walker and ex-Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, is now a Stanley Cup champion, reaching hockey's pinnacle after a long ride.

Rod Brind’Amour is made for the playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes coach made his NHL debut in the postseason in 1989, filling in for the St Louis Blues in a game against the Minnesota North Stars. He scored on his first shot. Still, it took him 17 seasons in the NHL before he hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2006 as captain of the Carolina Hurricanes, the team he has now led to another Cup win as head coach. “The fear of losing motivates you a lot of times,” he told reporters after that 2006 Cup win.

Wherever the motivation came from this year, the result is the same. The Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Game 6 on Sunday to win the Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history, exactly 20 years since they did it last.

Back in 2006, the Hurricanes were a semi-surprise entrant into the Final, having failed to qualify for the playoffs in each of the two seasons preceding the 2004-05 lockout (their prior trip to the postseason, in 2001-02, took them to the Final, which they lost to Detroit in five games). The history of the 2026 Hurricanes was different. Carolina’s Metropolitan division is a weird one, with the teams’ geographic proximity typically reflected in the tight standings. Season to season it’s difficult to predict exactly who will make the postseason (other than maybe Columbus). It’s a knife fight every time.

Except for the Hurricanes. In recent years, they’ve floated above the gyre but simultaneously drawn skepticism about whether they are actually any good, or just good versus the Metro. It was an earned reputation, as they lost in the Eastern finals in 2019, 2023, and 2025. The Hurricanes seemed to have enough gas to dominate the Metro and squeeze through a couple of postseason rounds, but that was where it always ended. What made 2026 different was then maybe not the fear of losing – how could they be? Part of what changed for the 2026 Hurricanes was a decision one of the Vegas Golden Knights made in the spring of 2025.

It’s weird to call Mitch Marner a breakout star of the playoffs since he’s been in the NHL for a decade, but that is essentially what he was. In this, his first season with Vegas, Marner posted 10 goals and 19 assists in the playoffs. His next closest total playoff point tally was 14 in 2023 when the Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Florida Panthers in the second round. Last spring, the Leafs offered to trade Marner to Carolina, but he declined. Missing out on Marner, Carolina pivoted and sent Mikko Rantanen to Dallas for Logan Stankoven. In the process, Carolina banked picks and cap space and ultimately secured Nikolaj Ehlers from Winnipeg. As good as Marner was for Vegas, he didn’t quite outdo Stankoven and Ehlers, who combined for 15 and 17 points respectively, giving Carolina more offensive depth than they had before. On Sunday night in Vegas, Stankoven’s line gave Carolina the 2-0 lead and the insurance they ultimately needed to win.

But that the Hurricanes of all teams might be taken seriously at all by someone like Marner – an offensive talent with options – would have been a surprise to most people who saw the team land in Raleigh in 1997. One of the few remaining World Hockey Association franchises, the Hartford Whalers left Connecticut in 1997 after plummeting revenues and a dispute with the local government over a stadium (a familiar NHL tale). As with other moves to infiltrate the Southern US markets, many saw the relocation as a major gamble, made riskier by the fact that North Carolina’s affinity for college basketball all but ruled out, it was assumed, much room for too many other sports.

Sure enough, when the Hurricanes hit the ice in North Carolina, it was to a half-empty Greensboro Coliseum, which was a 90-minute drive from Raleigh, making the Hurricanes first season “one long, strange 82-game road trip,” as Sports Illustrated put it at the time. The Hurricanes “are like some down-on-its-luck country band playing in front of small crowds, in a small city, with no home and no hope.” The team’s name was the only thing about it that made sense, the magazine continued, “because thus far the NHL’s incursion into tobacco country has been a natural disaster.”

Brind’Amour changed that. The Hurricanes had been looking at Brind’Amour for a while – his name was floated as early as October 1997 as a possible trade for goalie Sean Burke, even as he had another two-and-a-half years in Philadelphia as a Flyer. Brind’Amour’s first few months with the Hurricanes were rocky, but he gradually became a fit. And post-lockout, he brought a renewed sense of purpose to his game. “I’ve been fortunate, so I’ve never taken a day for granted in this league,” Brind’Amour said back in 2006. At 35, he likely knew then that the window to win a Cup was closing, compounded by the lockout. “That has been the approach I’ve always had … We’re pretty fortunate to play this game for a living and we all know the importance of it.”

This year, it was captain Jordan Staal who hoisted the Cup first for the Hurricanes. Staal, 37, has been with the organization since 2012 and his relationship with Brind’Amour is credited as key to Carolina’s ongoing success. Staal had the best postseason of his career this spring, notching eight goals and four assists – good enough to earn him the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP. In a post-game interview, Staal coincidentally [or maybe not] echoed Brind’Amour’s sentiment from 20 years ago. “Good time to get hot, eh?” he said when asked to explain how to account for his playoff performance. “I just wanted to win. I just wanted to win so bad.”