The 2026 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series for the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2025–26 season and the culmination of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs between the Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes and the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights. The series began on June 2 and ended on June 14, with the Hurricanes defeating the Golden Knights four games to two, winning their second Stanley Cup championship and first since 2006.
Carolina had home ice advantage in the series due to having a better regular season record. This was the first Final since to not feature a team from the state of Florida, as the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers failed to qualify for the playoffs, and the Tampa Bay Lightning were eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
Paths to the Final
Carolina Hurricanes
This was the third Stanley Cup Final for Carolina. Their first appearance in 2002 was a loss to the Detroit Red Wings in five games. They won the Stanley Cup during their second appearance in , where they defeated the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.
During the offseason, Carolina traded Scott Morrow and two picks to the New York Rangers for defenceman K'Andre Miller. They also picked up forward Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency. Finally, they re-signed Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake each to eight-year contracts. Prior to the start of the season, they picked up goaltender Brandon Bussi on waivers from the Florida Panthers, signing him to a three-year contract later in the season. Sebastian Aho led the team in scoring with 80 points.
The Hurricanes finished first in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference with 113 points via a record. In the playoffs, the Hurricanes completed back-to-back four-game sweeps against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the first and second rounds. In their second consecutive Eastern Conference final, they defeated the Montreal Canadiens in five games. The Hurricanes entered the Final with one loss in the postseason, the fewest since the 1975–76 Montreal Canadiens.
Vegas Golden Knights
This was the third Stanley Cup Final appearance for the Golden Knights. Their first appearance came during their inaugural season in 2018, in which they lost to the Washington Capitals in five games. Their only Stanley Cup victory comes in , where they defeated the Florida Panthers in five games.
During the offseason, the Golden Knights traded for defenceman Jérémy Lauzon and forward Colton Sissons from the Nashville Predators. They also acquired forward Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who was signed to an eight-year contract prior to his trade. After three seasons away from the Golden Knights, including two with Carolina, defenseman Dylan Coghlan returned for a second stint on a one-year contract. They additionally re-signed forwards Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith to one-year contracts. Forward Jack Eichel was then signed to an eight-year extension closer to the start of the season. At the start of the season, they signed free agent goaltender Carter Hart, who had been acquitted of his charges in the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal. During the season, the team traded for defenceman Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames. At the trade deadline, they acquired forwards Cole Smith and Nic Dowd from the Predators and Washington Capitals, respectively. On March 29, they fired head coach Bruce Cassidy with eight games remaining in the season, replacing him with John Tortorella. Jack Eichel led the team in scoring with 90 points.
The Golden Knights finished first in the Pacific Division with 95 points via a record. In the playoffs, they defeated the Utah Mammoth in six games in the first round. They then defeated the Anaheim Ducks in six games in the second round to reach their fifth Western Conference final in nine seasons. In the Western Conference final, they defeated the Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche in a four game-sweep.
Game summaries Note: The numbers in parentheses represent each player's total goals or assists to that point of the entire playoffs.
Game one
In game one, forward Nikolaj Ehlers began the scoring for Carolina in the first period, with the first shot for the Hurricanes giving them a 1–0 lead. Ehlers then gave Carolina a 2–0 lead, scoring five-hole on goaltender Carter Hart on a breakaway. Shea Theodore cut Carolina's lead in half as he fired a wrist shot past the defencemen and goaltender Frederik Andersen. In the second period, Ivan Barbashev scored to tie the game 2–2. After a offensive-zone faceoff, Mitch Marner made a pass to William Karlsson who scored, giving Vegas a 3–2 lead. Carolina captain Jordan Staal later tied the game 3–3, firing a wrist shot past Hart. In the third period, the Golden Knights regained the lead with Howden's tip-in goal. Shayne Gostisbehere tied the game 4–4 for the Hurricanes as a controversial icing call gave them an offensive zone faceoff, and as the Golden Knights attempted to tip the puck away, Gostibehere picked up the loose puck and scored. With 3:24 left in the game Tomáš Hertl scored to give Vegas a 5–4 lead, which they hung onto for the victory. Scoring summary+Game onePeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st CAR Nikolaj Ehlers (5) Jaccob Slavin (3), Jalen Chatfield (5) 00:25 1–0 CAR CAR Nikolaj Ehlers (6) Jalen Chatfield (6) 12:08 2–0 CAR VGK Shea Theodore (5) Brayden McNabb (4), Cole Smith (3) 13:28 2–1 CAR2nd VGK Ivan Barbashev (6) Jack Eichel (17), Brayden McNabb (5) 00:30 2–2 VGK William Karlsson (2) Mitch Marner (15), Brett Howden (3) 04:35 3–2 VGK CAR Jordan Staal (3) K'Andre Miller (9) 12:42 3–33rd VGK Brett Howden (11) Shea Theodore (8), Brayden McNabb (6) 01:21 4–3 VGK CAR Shayne Gostisbehere (3) Unassisted 11:19 4–4 VGK Tomáš Hertl (4) Colton Sissons (5), Shea Theodore (9) 16:36 5–4 VGKPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st VGK Brett Howden Cross-checking 13:37 2:002nd CAR Mark Jankowski Hooking 07:46 2:00 CAR Jalen Chatfield Tripping 18:35 2:003rd VGK Rasmus Andersson Closing hand on puck 06:09 2:00 CAR Mark Jankowski Delay of game (puck over glass) 09:03 2:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 4 11 8 23 12 5 12 29
Game two
In the first period of game two, Mitch Marner lobbed the puck out of the Vegas defensive zone and Brett Howden picked up the puck and scored to give the Golden Knights a 1–0 lead. After an unsuccessful power play for the Golden Knights in the second period, Howden scored again receiving assists from Ivan Barbashev and Noah Hanifin. In the third period, the Hurricanes cut Vegas's lead to one as Logan Stankoven scored an unassisted goal, shooting the puck and deflecting past goaltender Carter Hart. They tied the game just over two minutes later as William Carrier passed the puck to Mark Jankowski whose wrist shot got past Hart. With five minutes remaining in the game, the referee blew the whistle to stop play though the puck went into the Carolina net. Vegas challenged the play that no goaltender interference occurred to cause the whistle stoppage. The challenge was unsuccessful. On the ensuing power play, Carolina defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere shot the puck through traffic and Jordan Staal deflected the puck into the net, erasing the two-goal deficit to lead 3–2. With an empty net and an extra attacker for Vegas, Mark Stone scored to tie the game 3–3, sending it to overtime. In overtime, Tomáš Hertl took a tripping penalty and on the Carolina power play, Seth Jarvis scored to give the Hurricanes a 4–3 victory.
Scoring summary+Game twoPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st VGK Brett Howden (12) Mitch Marner (16) 13:33 1–0 VGK2nd VGK Brett Howden (13) Ivan Barbashev (8), Noah Hanifin (7) 07:23 2–0 VGK3rd CAR Logan Stankoven (10) Unassisted 10:20 2–1 VGK CAR Mark Jankowski (1) William Carrier (4), Eric Robinson (4) 12:46 2–2 CAR Jordan Staal (4) – pp Shayne Gostisbehere (5), Andrei Svechnikov (5) 15:25 3–2 CAR VGK Mark Stone (6) Mitch Marner (17), Tomáš Hertl (7) 18:39 3–3OT CAR Seth Jarvis (4) – pp Shayne Gostisbehere (6), Sebastian Aho (4) 03:56 4–3 CARPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st VGK Dylan Coghlan Tripping 14:44 2:00 VGK Colton Sissons Roughing 14:44 2:00 CAR Jordan Staal Holding 17:42 2:002nd CAR K'Andre Miller Interference 05:16 2:00 CAR Jordan Martinook Tripping 13:55 2:003rd VGK Bench (served by Ivan Barbashev) Delay of game (unsuccessful challenge) 15:00 2:00 CAR Jackson Blake Interference 16:31 2:00OT VGK Tomáš Hertl Tripping 03:17 2:00 Shots by periodTeam123OTTotal 2 9 14 1 26 8 7 8 3 26
Game three
The first period of game three remained scoreless with the shots favoring Carolina 7–2. In the second period, two goals by Vegas were challenged, first for an offside call and the second on goaltender interference. Both resulted in the goals being called back. The Hurricanes took a "too many on the ice" penalty, and on the power play for Vegas, Tomáš Hertl scored. Mitch Marner then scored as his shot was deflected off of a Carolina player's stick. Marner scored his second goal less than four minutes later, shooting the puck on his backhand past goaltender Frederik Andersen. Marner completed the hat trick as his third goal came from a slap shot. His hat trick goal was the fastest in Stanley Cup Final history, scoring all three goals within 6:10. The Hurricanes pulled Andersen after the end of the second period, opting to put in backup goaltender Brandon Bussi. Marner had a chance to make it 5–0 on a penalty shot, but was stopped by Bussi. The Hurricanes broke the shutout as they scored three goals within 39 seconds to cut the deficit to one goal. Jordan Martinook scored first firing a wrist shot past Carter Hart. Taylor Hall scored second as Sebastian Aho sent a backhand pass to Hall scoring to put it to 4–2. Captain Jordan Staal then scored off a face-off, making the score 4–3 for Vegas. With 1:42 left in the game, on the power play, Andrei Svechnikov scored to tie the game 4–4. The game went into the double-overtime period, wherein Shea Theodore scored to give Vegas a 5–4 victory and spoil Carolina's comeback.
Scoring summary+Game threePeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1stNone2nd VGK Tomáš Hertl (5) – pp Jack Eichel (18), Mitch Marner (18) 10:26 1–0 VGK VGK Mitch Marner (8) William Karlsson (5), Shea Theodore (10) 10:42 2–0 VGK VGK Mitch Marner (9) Brayden McNabb (7) 14:32 3–0 VGK VGK Mitch Marner (10) Tomáš Hertl (8) 16:52 4–0 VGK3rd CAR Jordan Martinook (2) Seth Jarvis (6), Logan Stankoven (4) 07:03 4–1 VGK CAR Taylor Hall (6) Sebastian Aho (5), Jackson Blake (11) 07:29 4–2 VGK CAR Jordan Staal (5) Jaccob Slavin (4), Eric Robinson (5) 07:42 4–3 VGK CAR Andrei Svechnikov (4) – pp Jordan Staal (4), Sebastian Aho (6) 18:18 4–4OT None2OT VGK Shea Theodore (6) Brayden McNabb (8), Brett Howden (4) 05:38 5–4 VGKPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st None2nd CAR Bench (served by Andrei Svechnikov) Too many men on ice 10:16 2:003rd VGK Cole Smith Holding the stick 03:15 2:00 CAR Sebastian Aho Slashing 04:04 Penalty shot CAR Seth Jarvis Delay of game (puck over glass) 12:07 2:00 VGK Shea Theodore Delay of game (puck over glass) 17:05 2:00OT None2OT None Shots by periodTeam123OT2OTTotal 7 5 13 6 2 33 2 14 9 7 3 35
Game four