2026 NHL Stanley Cup Final Preview<\/p>\n
The Stanley Cup Final gets underway Tuesday night at Lenovo Arena (ABC and Sportsnet), and for those of you in the Vegas area, you need to make your way to the Circa Resort and Casino for a watch party at Stadium Swim. The event is open to the public and is free to guests and anyone wearing Golden Knights apparel. The Hurricanes are currently a (-155) favorite, and the Golden Knights are a (+130) underdog.<\/p>\n
The Canes enter the Stanley Cup Final as the first team since the NHL went to the four best-of-seven series format to have one or fewer losses through the first three playoff rounds. Carolina isn\u2019t just beating teams; they are sucking the life out of the opposition, having given up two goals or less in 12 of their 13 playoff games. The 89 shots on goal they surrendered to the Canadiens are the fewest in NHL history for a series that lasted five games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Golden Knights are playing their best hockey of the season since the day John Tortorella took over behind the bench from the fired Bruce Cassidy. Vegas has won 19 of 24 games with Tortorella, and in their three clinching playoff games, they have outscored their opponents, 12-3, surrendering one goal in each of the three games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brett Howden and Pavel Dorofeyev are tied for the most goals in the 2026 playoffs (10 each) and tied for the most high-danger goals (six each; tied with Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens), while Mitch Marner is tied for fourth in high-danger goals (five). Brett Howden of the Golden Knights and Logan Stankoven of the Hurricanes are tied for the most even-strength goals (seven each), while Carolina forward Taylor Hall quietly leads the entire postseason in even-strength points (14).\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canes are still waiting for their top line, Sebastian Aho (four goals, three assists), Andrei Svechnikov (three goals, four assists) and Seth Jarvis (three goals, five assists), to take control of a series in the playoffs. The Golden Knights\u2019 top line of Jack Eichel (two goals, 16 assists), Pavel Dorofeyev (10 goals, four assists) and Ivan Barbashev (five goals, seven assists) have combined for 17 goals and\u00a0 44 points.<\/p>\n
Vegas netminder, Carter Hart, ranks second in the playoffs in overall save percentage (.924; behind Andersen\u2019s .931) and leads NHL goalies who advanced past the first round in high danger save percentage (.873 in 16 games), while Andersen ranks fourth on that list (.857 in 13 games).\u00a0<\/p>\n