After nearly two months of playoff hockey, a winner has been crowned. On the back of a shutout effort in goal from Brandon Bussi (who made his NHL debut at 27 just eight months ago) and key goals in the opening two periods from Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake, the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 to take the series in six games.
It’s the second Stanley Cup title in Hurricanes franchise history. Their first came 20 years ago back in the 2005-06 campaign. Rod Brind’Amour was a key cog on that 2006 champion as a player and now, he has his first Cup victory as a head coach.
After years of getting to the Eastern Conference Final and coming up short, GM Eric Tulsky made a pair of key additions to his roster. He traded for defenseman K’Andre Miller and then inked winger Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency. Both players played big roles for Carolina in the postseason as they swept Ottawa and Philadelphia in the first two rounds and took out Montreal in five games to get to this point.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Hurricanes were victorious this postseason without key contributions from two of their top scorers during the regular season. Sebastian Aho was limited to just a dozen points in 19 playoff games after picking up 80 points during the season. Meanwhile, Andrei Svechnikov had 11 points after notching 70 over the course of the regular season. But those diminished contributions were more than made up for with the secondary scorers picking up the slack with Hall, Blake, and Logan Stankoven all finishing with at least 16 points and finishing in the top four in team scoring. Hall becomes the first player in NHL history to be picked first overall by one team (Edmonton), win the Hart Trophy with a different team (New Jersey), and win a Stanley Cup with a different team than those two. Meanwhile, defenseman Jaccob Slavin becomes just the ninth player to win Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup in the same year.
Meanwhile, Jordan Staal took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. The 37-year-old captain becomes the oldest player to win the trophy. Staal tied a league record with a five-game goal streak in the Stanley Cup Final while his faceoff percentage in the series sets a new Final record. This is Staal’s second Stanley Cup title and his 17-year gap between winning also sets an NHL record.
As for Vegas, their third trip to the Cup Final in their nine-year franchise history ends on a losing note. Late in a regular season that saw them underachieve throughout, Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon made the surprising decision to let head coach Bruce Cassidy go with just eight games left in the regular season, replacing him with John Tortorella.
Tortorella’s addition certainly gave them a spark as they went 7-0-1 down the stretch to secure the top seed in the Pacific Division and then took care of Utah and Anaheim in six games in the opening two rounds. Their best came in the Western Conference Final, however, as they swept Colorado, the Presidents’ Trophy winner before taking two games from the Hurricanes, more than Carolina’s other three opponents combined. Now, they have another decision to make behind the bench with Tortorella only signing on for this season. Will he stay or will they make another change with well-regarded up-and-coming coach Ryan Craig waiting in the wings?
Although they came up short as a team, they had some of the best individual performances of the postseason. Mitch Marner led all playoff participants with 29 points. Meanwhile, Brett Howden had the most goals of anyone with 14 while Jack Eichel led the way with 20 assists.
With the games now over, the focus will now shift to offseason activity. First up will be the buyout window which will open up mid-week. The draft will come soon after with that beginning on June 26th while the new league year and free agency opens up on July 1st. It promises to be a busy summer ahead with activity likely to pick up in the very near future.
Congrats to the Canes. Well played and earned.
On behalf of the Dallas Stars, congratulations Carolina, and really happy to see Stankoven lift it!!!
LET’S GO!!!!!!!
Marner first 3 games: 3 G, 4 A, 7 PTS, +4, 14 SH
Marner last 3 games: 0 G, 1 A, 1 PT, -5, 4 SH
He had a great playoff run. Just funny to think that even going to the Cup Final in his first year away from Toronto, you know the same narrative is going to hound him lol.
Anyway, congrats to the Canes! Did not see Blake going into PPG beast mode. Impressive stuff from him and Bussi especially too. The technique is not always pretty but he gets it done. And so happy for noted good guy Freddy Andersen after the recent gut-wrenching loss of Claude Lemieux.
First 3 games against Andersen. Last 3 against Bussi.
I mean this should highlight hes not a problem for a team to have him on their roster and that it is, in the end, a team sport.
Well done Canes! They were the team I wanted to win after LA got eliminated, and there couldn’t be a more deserving team to win it!
Bussi stood on his head after he got the nod. He was incredible.
And Chicago in the AHL is in the grand final and could also win the title…Who is the general manager of the year?
I have no problem with Staal but I thought this would have been one of those times where Bussi and Staal could have both been named Co MVP’s. I usually hate that but this could have been one of those times I would have been cool with it.
The Stanley Cup series between Carolina and Vegas was an entertainingly good series. Both teams performed admirably, and I had no issues with either. I’m glad for Carolina, who, after 20 years, have once again claimed the Stanley Cup. Their victory is well-deserved—congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes!