TC Martin

Canes Capture Cup with Shutout of VGK

​​​

The season came to a crashing halt for the Vegas Golden Knights as they succumbed to a better team.  A team that was hungry for a title and would do whatever it took to get the job done.  

​

That is exactly what the Carolina Hurrincanes did on Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas.  The cashed in on Vegas mistakes but more importantly took a more aggressive approach than their counterpart in shutting out the Knights on their home ice 3-0 to capture the Stanley Cup winning the series 4-2.  

​

The championship is the second in franchise history since the team moved to Raleigh from Hartford, Connecticut in 1997 and the first since 2006. Carolina denied Vegas its second title since the franchise's inception in 2017.

​

Rod Brind'Amour, who captained that 2006 Hurricanes team to the Stanley Cup, was the head coach for this season's title run.

​

For Golden Knights fans the scene was eerily similar to a June night in 2018 when the Washington Capitals won the cup in the same building amongst a large gathering of Caps fans who made the long trip from the east coast.  The noise from the visitors wasn't as loud this time around from Hurricanes fans but it was definitely noticeable. 

​

Twenty-year NHL veteran Jordan Staal was Carolina's lynchpin throughout the playoffs. When they got to the Final, Staal scored six goals in six games, including a miraculous Game 4 winner as he fell to the ice.

 

He was the obvious choice to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. At 37 years old, he's the oldest winner of the award. And he followed in his older brother Eric Staal's footsteps Sunday night. Eric lifted the Stanley Cup for the Hurricanes when Carolina first won the championship in 2006.

​

The real story was the difference in goaltending.  Carter was outplayed by 27-year-old Brandon Bussi who took over in relief of Frederik Anderson in Game 3 and was stellar the rest of the series. 

​

Carter Hart deteriorated as the series progressed.  Hart gave up at least four goals in the first five games and three in the final contest.  The Knights offense gave Hart no help in the final two games especially in the clincher as they were shut out for the first time in a Stanley Cup Finals game and had a string of 35 games where they scored at least one goal.

 

Vegas heads into the off season with a coaching decision to make. John Tortorella took over for the fired Bruce Cassidy on March 29th and propelled this team all the way to the Finals.  We will see if Kelly McCrimmon will offer the full-time job to Tortorella who is 67 years old.