Hurricanes, Golden Knights set to open Stanley Cup Final with Tuesday’s Game 1

Carolina Hurricanes' Eric Robinson celebrates following Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker) 2026-06-02T21:22:15Z RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes rolled through the Eastern Conference playoffs, while the Vegas Golden Knights picked up speed with each round before pulling off a shocking sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche. That has brought them to the Stanley Cup Final for Tuesday night’s opener, with the Golden Knights chasing a second championship in four seasons while the Hurricanes are playing for the Cup for the first time since coach Rod Brind’Amour captained them to the 2006 title. The Hurricanes went 12-1 through three rounds to get here, sweeping through Ottawa and Philadelphia before taking the last four games of a five-game win against Montreal in the Eastern Conference Final. That made the Hurricanes the first team since 1983 to reach the Stanley Cup Final with one loss, and the first since the NHL went to best-of-seven series in all four rounds in 1987. The Golden Knights — who surged after a late-season coaching change by firing Bruce Cassidy to hire John Tortorella — pushed past Utah and Anaheim in a pair of six-game series, and have won six straight games entering Tuesday’s Game 1 against Carolina after beating the Avs. Defense has been the standout feature for both teams. Carolina has allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of 13 playoff games, including a shutout win in all three Eastern playoff rounds. Vegas allowed just seven goals in the sweep of the Avalanche, who led the league in regular-season scoring (3.63 goals per game) behind high-end skill like Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas. /* Desktop-first: fully collapse by default */ #ap-readmore-embed { display: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; height: 0; min-height: 0; overflow: hidden; text-align: center; position: relative; z-index: 2; } /* Only show on mobile */ @media (max-width: 767px) { #ap-readmore-embed { display: block; margin: 28px 0; height: auto; overflow: visible; } } #ap-readmore-embed .ap-readmore-btn { appearance: none; -webkit-appearance: none; border: 0; background: #000; color: #fff; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; gap: 10px; padding: 14px 22px; border-radius: 999px; font-family: inherit, "AP Sans", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1; box-shadow: 0 10px 18px rgba(0,0,0,0.12); transition: transform 120ms ease, box-shadow 120ms ease, opacity 120ms ease; touch-action: manipulation; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; position: relative; z-index: 3; } #ap-readmore-embed .ap-readmore-btn:hover { transform: translateY(-1px); box-shadow: 0 14px 22px rgba(0,0,0,0.16); } #ap-readmore-embed .ap-readmore-btn:active { transform: translateY(0); box-shadow: 0 10px 18px rgba(0,0,0,0.12); opacity: 0.95; } #ap-readmore-embed .ap-readmore-btn:focus-visible { outline: 3px solid rgba(228, 0, 43, 0.35); outline-offset: 3px; } #ap-readmore-embed .ap-readmore-icon { width: 10px; height: 10px; border-right: 2px solid currentColor; border-bottom: 2px solid currentColor; transform: rotate(45deg); margin-top: -2px; } #ap-readmore-embed .ap-readmore-fade { display: none; height: 48px; margin-top: -48px; pointer-events: none; background: linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(255,255,255,0), rgba(255,255,255,1)); } Read More (function () { var APRM_EMBED_ID = "ap-readmore-embed"; var APRM_MOBILE_MQ = "(max-width: 767px)"; function APRM_onReady(fn) { if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", fn); } else { fn(); } } APRM_onReady(function () { var APRM_embedEl = document.getElementById(APRM_EMBED_ID); if (!APRM_embedEl) return; // 🚨 DESKTOP: remove entire module wrapper and bail early if (!window.matchMedia(APRM_MOBILE_MQ).matches) { var APRM_rootModule = APRM_embedEl.closest(".HTMLModuleEnhancement") || APRM_embedEl.closest(".HtmlModule"); if (APRM_rootModule && APRM_rootModule.parentNode) { APRM_rootModule.parentNode.removeChild(APRM_rootModule); } else if (APRM_embedEl.parentNode) { APRM_embedEl.parentNode.removeChild(APRM_embedEl); } return; // stop the rest of the script from running } }); })(); (function () { var EMBED_ID = "ap-readmore-embed"; var BTN_ID = "apReadMoreBtn"; var FADE_ID = "apReadMoreFade"; var STOP_SELECTOR = ".Page-below"; var SIGN_IN_GATE_SELECTOR = ".sign-in-gate-content"; var HIDDEN_ATTR = "data-ap-readmore-hidden"; var MOBILE_MQ = "(max-width: 767px)"; function ready(fn) { if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", fn); } else { fn(); } } function isElementNode(n) { return n && n.nodeType === 1; } function cancelEvent(e) { if (!e) return; if (typeof e.preventDefault === "function") e.preventDefault(); if (typeof e.stopPropagation === "function") e.stopPropagation(); if (typeof e.stopImmediatePropagation === "function") e.stopImmediatePropagation(); e.cancelBubble = true; e.returnValue = false; } function collapseDesktopEmbed(embed) { if (!embed) return true; if (!window.matchMedia(MOBILE_MQ).matches) { var maybeWrappers = [ embed.parentElement, embed.closest(".html-embed"), embed.closest("[data-type='htmlembed']"), embed.closest("[class*='embed']"), embed.closest("[class*='Embed']") ].filter(Boolean); embed.style.display = "none"; embed.style.margin = "0"; embed.style.padding = "0"; embed.style.height = "0"; embed.style.minHeight = "0"; embed.style.overflow = "hidden"; maybeWrappers.forEach(function (el) { el.style.margin = "0"; el.style.padding = "0"; el.style.height = "0"; el.style.minHeight = "0"; el.style.overflow = "hidden"; }); if (embed.parentNode) { embed.parentNode.removeChild(embed); } return true; } return false; } ready(function () { var embed = document.getElementById(EMBED_ID); var btn = document.getElementById(BTN_ID); var fade = document.getElementById(FADE_ID); if (!embed || !btn) return; if (collapseDesktopEmbed(embed)) return; var signInGate = document.querySelector(SIGN_IN_GATE_SELECTOR); if (signInGate) { embed.innerHTML = ""; return; } // — Analytics: impression when embed enters viewport — if ("IntersectionObserver" in window) { var io = new IntersectionObserver(function (entries, observer) { if (entries[0].isIntersecting) { window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; window.dataLayer.push({ event: "ap_readmore_impression" }); observer.disconnect(); } }, { threshold: 0 }); io.observe(btn); } var stopEl = document.querySelector(STOP_SELECTOR); if (!stopEl) return; var rootCandidates = [ embed.closest(".Page"), embed.closest("article"), embed.closest("main"), document.body ].filter(Boolean); var root = rootCandidates.find(function (c) { return c.contains(stopEl); }) || document.body; var all = root.getElementsByTagName("*"); var hidden = []; for (var i = 0; i Vegas took both regular-season meetings with Carolina, first with a 4-1 home win on Oct. 20. Eight days later, Jack Eichel scored twice in the last 4:59 for a 6-3 win that included Carolina having multiple injuries that had them down to four defensemen for a significant stretch of the night. ___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl AARON BEARD Beard covers sports in North Carolina for The Associated Press with an emphasis on college basketball. His coverage includes ACC sports and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. twitter mailto