Stanley Cup Final Game One: 25 Seconds and What Do You Get?!

June 19, 2006. That was the last time that North Carolina's capital city of Raleigh hosted a Stanley Cup Final game. It was the game. Game Seven against the Edmonton Oilers. The Carolina Hurricanes won that game, 3-1, to capture the Stanley Cup. Cam Ward won the Conn Smythe Trophy, and Rod Brind'Amour was the team's captain, the first to touch the Stanley Cup. Fast forward nearly 20 years, the Hurricanes are in the Final again, and as for Brind'Amour, he's now the head coach.

The Hurricanes and their 12-1 record in this year's playoffs are up against the Vegas Golden Knights, who are in their third Final in their ninth year of play. Amazing. The Golden Knights have barely been around longer than I've been on Vocal. This is actually my sixth year writing game-by-game recaps of the Stanley Cup Final. I've done the Lightning's second straight Cup in the 2021 campaign, emotionally covered the Avalanche's 2022 Cup, written about the Golden Knights' 2023 victory, and also both times the Panthers beat the Oilers.

And so begins Year Six:

Frederik Andersen was in net against Carter Hart, and all it took was 25 seconds to get this party started. Nikolaj Ehlers put it in very quickly, drawing first blood for the Hurricanes. His first time in the Final after many years with the Winnipeg Jets, and he gets his first SCF goal in no time. And he liked scoring in the Final so much that he did it again at 12:08. Hurricanes led 2-0, and it looked like any trepidations I had about this team were put to rest. Then Shea Theodore made it 2-1 over a minute later.

Nine seconds after that goal, the Canes received the game's first power play, but it was killed off. After the first 20 minutes of this year's Cup Final, the Hurricanes were up 2-1, and they were looking good.

And then Vegas tied it up 30 seconds into the second period. Ivan Barbashev, who is actually looking for his third Cup (won in 2019 with the Blues and in 2023 with Vegas) tied it up, and four minutes later, William Karlsson--one of the team's original "Misfits"--gave Vegas their first lead of the Final. Speaking of firsts, the primary assist on that goal was provided by Mitch Marner, who is in his first SCF and has his first SCF point.

Vegas received their first PP, but it was killed off. Even so, I was really hoping Carolina would get back in this, and at 12:42, they did. Jordan Staal--whose brother Eric activated the siren before the game--tied it up at 3! Carolina killed off another Vegas PP, and after 40 minutes, it was all knotted up at 3.

In the third period, Vegas scored another early one, and it was Brett Howden at 1:21 to give them a 4-3 lead. Carolina had a power play that was killed off, and they needed something yet again. And again, they get it. Shayne Gostisbehere ties it up in the latter half of the period, and as time went by, I'm thinking overtime. We had OT in Game One last year, and we had OT in Game One in 2022. Plus it didn't look like either team would get something in the rest of regulation.

And then Tomas Hertl happened.

After Seth Jarvis was stopped, a Sissons breakaway was prevented, but Theodore did get the puck to Colton Sissons, who made a wild backward pass to Hertl, who did the rest. With 3:24 left in regulation, Hertl--in his second Final (he was part of the 2016 Final with the Sharks)--gave Vegas a 5-4 lead. Andersen was pulled for the extra attacker, and while Vegas couldn't get the empty netter, the Hurricanes couldn't tie it up either.

The Vegas Golden Knights won Game One, 5-4, handing the Hurricanes their second loss in this year's playoffs, which prevents them from surpassing the 1987-88 Oilers' 16-2 playoff record. This also marks the first time that the road team won Game One of the Cup Final since 2015. Shea Theodore (G/2A) and Brayden McNabb (all assists) had three-point nights, while Carolina wasted Nikolaj Ehlers' two goal lead to start this game. Frederik Anderson's miniscule GAA took a hit in this go-around, and the Golden Knights have now won seven straight games dating back to Round 2 against Anaheim.

Two statements do not help Vegas in this. While the winner of Game One of the Cup Final wins the series 76% of the time, last year saw the Game One winner (the Oilers) lose. Secondly, Vegas did win Game One of the 2018 Final--that was the only game they won. So yeah, Carolina still has a chance, but they need to not take their foot off the gas.

Game Two is Thursday in Raleigh.

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