A Carolina Hurricanes—Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup Final showdown, at best, was a long-shot prediction when the NHL regular season began in October 2025.
When training camp began in September 2025, Hockey aficionados penciled in that the Colorado Avalanche would be hosting Lord Stanley’s Cup in the postseason. During the NHL’s regular season, the Avalanche lived up to their billing as the best in the Western Conference. Breezing through the first two rounds of the playoffs, with series victories over Los Angeles and Minnesota, Colorado, at 55–16–11 (121 points) claimed The Presidents’ Trophy, as the team with the best overall regular season record.
Getting past Vegas appeared to be a formality en route for the Avalanche to reach the final. But then they actually had to play the games against the Golden Knights. Colorado was swept in four games. Now it’s Vegas that’s the NHL’s newest buzzsaw hoping to claim its second cup since 2023.
On June 2 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, at 8 p.m. ET, the puck drops on Game 1 of the best-of-seven series. All games will air on ABC TV and are scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
In the final weeks of the season, Vegas wasn’t assured of a playoff position. On March 29, with eight games to be played, the Golden Knights fired their head coach, Bruce Cassidy (known as Butch Cassidy). It was under Cassidy’s guidance that Vegas claimed its first Stanley Cup championship since entering the NHL in the 2017–2018 season.
Cassidy was the longest tenured coach in franchise history. John Tortorella, 67, a longtime NHL head coach who won a Stanley Cup title with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003, had been working as an analyst for ESPN when hired by Vegas to rudder the Golden Knight’s ship.
“I like being with this group,” Tortorella told The Associated Press on Saturday. “It was such a crazy situation (several) weeks ago. I think they have kind of accepted me. I think they understand me better. I certainly understand them better. I feel more comfortable in changing as a coach in order for this to work. The bottom line is we’re trying to win. I need to give them what I think they need to help them get the obstacles away so that they can just play.”
Tortorella’s abbreviated introduction to Vegas’ regular schedule saw his team run up a 7–0–1 record, win the Pacific Division, and dominate in the playoffs. The Golden Knights eliminated Utah (4–2) in the opening playoff series, followed by dispatching Anaheim (4–0) to an early off-season.
Since being let go by the Philadelphia Flyers in March 2025 as their coach, Tortorella appears to have softened his approach to teaching his players, chainging the usual gruff, and often humiliating comments offered to media members.
“We’re just kind of guidance counselors,” Tortorella said Thursday to The Athletic. “That’s the way I look at us as coaches, especially with this group. When we need to bring them back in, and put them on the tracks the right way, we’ll nudge theme there, and try to get them there, but they’re the ones that play. They’re the ones that handle the situations. We got a damn good group here, doing that.”
Carolina comes into the Stanley Cup Final in the position many had predicted. The No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, after dominating the Metropolitan Division throughout the regular season. Their 113-point season was second only to the numbers compiled by Colorado. The Hurricanes swept Ottawa and Philadelphia, before downing the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Carolina’s rock is their head coach Rod Brind’Amour.
When Carolina claimed its franchise’s first and only Stanley Cup 21 seasons ago, Brind’Amour was in his sixth of 10 seasons skating for the Hurricanes. Seven seasons as an assistant coach with Carolina, now in his eight as the top coach with the team, Brind’Amour is looking to be the eighth person to have won a Stanley Cup as a player and later coached that same franchise to a championship. The Hurricanes are quite familiar with their soon-to-be championship round opponents. Twice this past October during the NHL regular season Vegas and Carolina met. Vegas won both games.
“They do a good job of keeping the puck outside, and they’ve got some big defensemen and, obviously, just some very dangerous forwards up front, and a hot goaltender,” Carolina forward Logan Stankoven said of Vegas to NHL.com on Friday. “So, it’s going to be a challenge for us. I think if we keep bringing the game that we have right now, it puts us in a good spot. I’ve played against them, I know what to expect, so it’s going to be a hard series.”
Games 1 and 2 will be in Raleigh, while Games 3 and 4 will be held in Las Vegas. If necessary, Game 5 is set for Carolina, Game 6 back to Las Vegas, and a Game 7 would be played in Raleigh.
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