2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Stanley Cup Final Game 1: Carolina Hurricanes vs. Vegas Golden Knights
How to watch
Start time: 8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English) TVA Sports (French)
In the U.S.: ABC
Streaming: Sportsnet+
The Carolina Hurricanes have reached the Stanley Cup Final having dropped just a single game through three rounds. That one loss did come in the opening game of round 3 with the Montreal Canadiens in town, so you know they’ve been talking in the last few days about the importance of playing their style for the full 60 minutes in Game 1 to keep their run going.
Mitch Marner leads his Vegas Golden Knights into Raleigh as the playoffs’ leading scorer with 21 points. Las Vegas hasn’t been quite as dominant in the playoffs as its Eastern Conference counterpart, needing six-game series to get through the first two rounds, but did complete a sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche to reach this point. Both teams were able to take care of their business quickly in the conference finals, and arrive at this stage more rested than you typically see.
Both clubs like to play with a hard forecheck to put pressure on the opposing team, and both have deep groups of forwards to take advantage when the puck is worked away from those defenders. You would expect the Hurricanes to have the advantage after tweaking this style for eight years whereas the Golden Knights just started playing this way after hiring John Tortorella very late in the season, but we’ll see how things transpire over the course of this best-of-seven series.
Carolina Hurricanes projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #37 Andrei Svechnikov |
#20 Sebastian Aho |
#24 Seth Jarvis |
| #71 Taylor Hall |
#22 Logan Stankoven |
#53 Jackson Blake |
| #27 Nikolaj Ehlers |
#11 Jordan Staal |
#48 Jordan Martinook |
| #28 William Carrier |
#77 Mark Jankowski |
#50 Eric Robinson |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #74 Jaccob Slavin |
#5 Jalen Chatfield |
| #19 K’Andre Miller |
#26 Sean Walker |
| #4 Shayne Gostisbehere |
#21 Alexander Nikishin |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #31 Frederik Andersen |
#32 Brandon Bussi |
Vegas Golden Knights projected lineup
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #49 Ivan Barbashev |
#9 Jack Eichel |
#16 Pavel Dorofeyev |
| #21 Brett Howden |
#71 William Karlsson |
#93 Mitch Marner |
| #48 Tomas Hertl |
#10 Colton Sissons |
#61 Mark Stone |
| #22 Cole Smith |
#26 Nic Dowd |
#55 Keegan Kolesar |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #3 Brayden McNabb |
#27 Shea Theodore |
| #15 Noah Hanifin |
#4 Rasmus Andersson |
| #5 Jeremy Lauzon |
#52 Dylan Coghlan |
| Starter |
Backup |
| #79 Carter Hart |
#33 Adin Hill |
