Stanley Cup Final Game Six: Hurricane Stanley, 20 Years Later

There is always something extra special about that first game with the Stanley Cup in the building. No matter who it is, whether it's your favorite team, a team you respect, or a team you despise, when said team is one win away from capturing that Cup, it's always a sight to see. On this Sunday evening in Vegas, the Carolina Hurricanes entered Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final needing just one win to get Lord Stanley's holy grail, the absolute hardest trophy to win.

It wasn't easy for Carolina. They lost Game One on home ice, but managed to get an OT win in Game Two. Game Three went Vegas' way as well, but the Hurricanes managed to strike back in Game Four to even the series again. Back on home ice, the Hurricanes started strong and finished stronger in Game Five, and just like that, the Canes were one win away from partying like it's 2006.

For the third straight game, Brandon Bussi was in net for the Hurricanes. As for Vegas, John Tortorella kept Carter Hart in net, and within minutes, the Canes struck first. Taylor Hall put in his seventh goal of the playoffs, with Jaccob Slavin and Jackson Blake assisting. Vegas was definitely trying to even things up; pelting Bussi with 11 shots in the opening frame, but Bussi stopped all of them. Canes led 1-0 after 20, and in the second period, oh boy. Vegas was not getting anything together. Carolina didn't have a lot of shots, but one of them went in, and it was Jackson Blake who made it 2-0 at 13:31. Logan Stankoven had the only assist, and after 40 minutes, it's 2-0 Canes.

Now it's excitement time. Carolina, one win away from the Cup, was leading by two after two periods. 20 minutes of game time away from becoming champions. The period seemed to go by very fast, because just like that, over a half a period was gone! Down to eight minutes, now down to six, now down to four. Oh man, oh man! There were just under three minutes left when Vegas pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. Vegas had a lot of close calls during third period, including Jack Eichel hitting the crossbar and narrowly missing getting his first career Cup Final goal. True story; in two Cup Final appearances, Eichel has 12 points. All assists.

A face off with barely over a minute left resulted in Nikolaj Ehlers shooting the puck in the empty net. That's it. It's over! All that was left was to count down the final remaining seconds.

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0, in Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final, on Sunday, June 14, 2026. Five days shy of 20 years after winning their first Stanley Cup, the Hurricanes became Stanley Cup Champions for the second time in franchise history. Similar to the NBA's New York Knicks, who won their championship just a day prior, the Hurricanes went 16-3 in their championship run, losing only one game more than the historic 1987-88 Edmonton Oilers squad (16-2). Their first loss didn't come until Game One of the Eastern Conference Final against the Montréal Canadiens, and this marked the second straight year that a team won the Stanley Cup Final despite losing Game One.

Regarding the Conn Smythe Trophy, it went to the captain, Jordan Staal, becoming the oldest player (born September 10, 1988) to win the prestigious trophy. I can understand Staal winning it. The Conn Smythe is supposed to cover the entire playoffs, and while Staal had only 12 points, eight of them were goals, and six of them were in the Final. Yeah. As the game progressed, I thought, "It's a shame Brandon Bussi can't win it." He did make quite the difference after entering Game Three in relief, and that includes picking up his first NHL shutout in the Cup clinching Game Six! I honestly think Mitch Marner should have won the Conn Smythe regardless of the result, though if they had to give it to someone on the winning team, I was hoping that we would see history with Frederik Andersen and Brandon Bussi actually sharing it.

Speaking of Staal, this was his second Stanley Cup, having one his first all the way back in 2009 with the Penguins. Another one enjoying his second Cup: William Carrier, one of the old original "misfits" from Vegas. So many others hoisted the Cup for the very first time. The list includes, but isn't limited to, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, Taylor Hall, K'Andre Miller, Nikolaj Ehlers, Frederik Andersen (yet another longtime ex-Leaf winning a Cup elsewhere), Logan Stankoven (making Dallas Stars fans cry), and Jaccob Slavin (the first American to win Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup in the same year).

Oh, and there's one more name I have to mention:

If there's ever a perfect definition of "full circle," this is it. I remember watching that 2006 Hurricanes Cup vividly; it was the first season back from the lockout, and it was the first time NBC was airing the NHL, and that included the Final, which Carolina won. That year, Rod Brind'Amour was the captain. Here, he's the head coach, and he's got the Cup again. Brind'Amour is the seventh person to win the Cup on the same team as a player one moment and the head coach in the next moment, and he's the first to do it in the expansion era (since 1967).

I want to share something right now. I want to share a few things I said in the past about the Hurricanes in the last three "What Went Wrong" recaps. First, the one from 2023:

So now that the Hurricanes came up short, is the window still open? I say yes, but it's not as wide. The way I see it, this year was "This is the year" mode. Now next year is "They better win, or else."

Next up, from 2024:

Last year, I said that the window for the Hurricanes started to close with their East Final defeat. This regression definitely doesn't help. I will not say that the window is all the way shut, but with this exit, it's now barely open. If this year wasn't the Hurricanes' last chance to get a 2nd Cup with that group, then next year definitely is.

And finally, from last year:

I've spent the last three years dancing around the thought of closing Carolina's Cup window. Not anymore. The window is closed! It has to be. They've had chance after chance after chance. This was the second time in three years that the Hurricanes were pretty much the strongest team remaining, but they blew it. They've won one Eastern Conference Final game out of their last seventeen outings. They can't beat Florida. It is not hard to beat Florida, yet they get owned by this Mickey Mouse franchise! And there's already talk about whether or not the Canes should fire coach Rod Brind'Amour. Seven years with nothing to show for it would cause people to talk. So yeah, Carolina's Stanley Cup window is closed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I am not wrong often, but on the rare chance that I am, I am man enough to admit it. Yes, I questioned the validity of Carolina's Cup window. Yes, I spent three years doing so. Yes, I said their window was closed. And yes, I was wrong. I was wrong to not believe in this Hurricanes squad. I used their past bad luck in deep runs to actually doubt this team when they actually had the right stuff all along. This was an amazing run by the Hurricanes. They swept the first two series. Needed only five games to beat a loaded Canadiens team. Beat a Vegas team who dismantled a heavily loaded and favored Avalanche team. 16 wins in 19 playoff games. Thank you, Hurricanes. Thank you for proving me wrong. That's all I wanted.

And so ends another NHL season, and with that, my sixth year of game-by-game Cup Final recaps. We can all relax and breathe for the rest of the summer, but remember, we have a little less time to relax now. Beginning next year, it's an 84-game season, and it'll start in the end of September. But that's next year. For now, the Carolina Hurricanes are the Stanley Cup Champions for the second time in their history, and major congratulations to that franchise!