{"id":694019,"date":"2026-06-09T18:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/694019\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T18:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:48:13","slug":"best-stanley-cup-final-ever-hurricanes-vs-golden-knights-has-chance-to-top-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/694019\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Stanley Cup Final ever? Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights has chance to top list"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning to everyone except whoever came up with this headline<\/a>. Nice try, guys, but April Fools\u2019 Day was weeks ago. Maybe go for something more realistic next time.<\/p>\n

So, did everyone enjoy the extra day off? There\u2019s a good chance you needed it after the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final. Deep breaths, because Game 4 goes tonight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Greatest Stanley Cup Final ever?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fair question, right? And as the local hockey history guy, you know I\u2019m going to take a swing at it. Let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n

Game 1 featured a ton of offense, lead changes and drama, culminating in a late winner<\/a>. Game 2 took a while to heat up, then went absolutely bonkers in the final 10 minutes of regulation, leading to OT<\/a>. And Game 3 might have been the wildest of all, with one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history thwarted by another sudden-death winner, this one on a total fluke<\/a> in double OT.<\/p>\n

Three games. Three different \u201cdid we all just see that?\u201d reactions.<\/p>\n

Is this series on track to be the best Cup Final of the cap era? The best final of any era? Maybe the best playoff series of all time, period?<\/p>\n

The short answer: After three games, it\u2019s too early to tell.<\/p>\n

The slightly longer answer: The fact that we can even ask the question is pretty amazing. Being in the \u201cbest series ever\u201d conversation after three games is like a baseball pitcher having a perfect game through five innings. Nothing truly historic has happened quite yet, but it\u2019s not too early to start getting excited. And it\u2019s definitely time to go out of your way to tune in.<\/p>\n

If you missed it, I did some playoff series ranking yesterday. A bit too much, if we\u2019re being honest. I picked the best series in NHL history for every possible combination<\/a> of wins and losses that can make up a seven-game series. And that means a lot of the candidates for \u201cbest ever\u201d are fresh in my mind. Among Stanley Cup finals, the ones you hear mentioned most often include 1994 (Rangers over Canucks), 2009 (Penguins over Red Wings) and 2024 (the Oilers\u2019 almost-comeback against the Panthers). Outside the final, you\u2019ve got candidates such as the Habs over the Bruins in 1979, the Rangers over the Devils in 1994, the Kings over the Leafs in 1993 and the Kings over the Blackhawks in 2014.<\/p>\n

Can the Canes and Knights climb that mountain? One thing you\u2019ll notice is that every one of those classic series went the full seven games. There\u2019s no guarantee it will happen here, and obviously, if Vegas closes this out in five, the discussion is over.<\/p>\n

But if it goes the distance? This series is checking almost all the boxes you\u2019d want from an all-time classic. Overtime? We\u2019ve had two already. Chaos? Plenty. Controversy? John Tortorella\u2019s challenge in Game 2 will be debated forever if the Knights lose. End-to-end action? There have been some dry patches, but you never know when the dam is about to break. Storylines? Almost too many to count<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Really, the only thing missing so far is some old-fashioned bad blood, and we\u2019ve still got time to get there. If anything, it feels like this series could have another level to get to, especially if and when stars like Jack Eichel and Sebastian Aho really start to make their presence felt.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re only in the fifth inning. But something special is happening. Let\u2019s see where it goes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n What\u2019s in store for Vegas-Carolina Game 4? Bedlam, we hope. (Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udee8 Get ready for Game 4<\/p>\n

Vegas leads the series 2-1. Let\u2019s get you caught up.<\/p>\n

First things first: We don\u2019t know the Hurricanes\u2019 starting goaltender for tonight. We saw rookie Brandon Bussi for the first time in this year\u2019s playoffs when he relieved Frederik Andersen after two periods. At the time, it felt like a low-pressure opportunity for the kid to get his feet wet, since at 4-0 the game was already over. But then it wasn\u2019t over, because things got wild<\/a>, and Bussi standing on his head was part of it.<\/p>\n

So, what now if you\u2019re Carolina coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour? Do you go back to Andersen, the veteran who looked fantastic through three rounds? Or do you trust your season to the hot hand in Bussi, in what would be the first start of his playoff career? The speculation started almost immediately<\/a> after Game 3 ended, and yesterday Brind\u2019Amour didn\u2019t offer any hints<\/a>. We should know later this morning, but Jesse Granger has a good post on how a Bussi start could mess with the Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the Vegas side, the focus has been on Saturday\u2019s heroes: Mitch Marner running away with the Conn Smythe Trophy<\/a>, Brayden McNabb\u2019s inspiring return from taking an 87 mph slapshot to the face<\/a> and Shea Theodore\u2019s \u201clucky<\/a>\u201d OT winner.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of us, we\u2019re just waiting to find out what tonight might have in store.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

And the award goes to \u2026<\/p>\n

Last week<\/a>, I asked you to vote on this year\u2019s O\u2019Brien Trophy, awarded to the team with the worst postseason<\/a>. The idea was not to look for the team that went out first, but to measure each team\u2019s performance against expectations.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s ballot options were the Ottawa Senators, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n

After 2,668 responses, 54 percent of voters picked the Oilers, who lost a six-game first-round series in a very winnable matchup against the Ducks, who weren\u2019t even supposed to be in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Congratulations\/sorry, Edmonton. Enjoy your trophy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Brandon Bussi stones Mitch Marner on a penalty shot. (Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca1 Trivia Time<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep it simple this week. One of the (many) highlights of Saturday\u2019s madness was Mitch Marner\u2019s penalty shot<\/a>. Early in the third with Vegas up 4-0, Marner was stopped by Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi, and the Carolina comeback started soon after.<\/p>\n

If Marner had scored, he\u2019d have been just the second player to ever score on a penalty shot in the Stanley Cup Final. Can you name the lone player to ever manage the feat?<\/p>\n

And a helpful hint: One of the teams in this year\u2019s Final was also involved in that lone penalty shot goal. <\/p>\n

Answer at the end of today\u2019s email.<\/p>\n

What to Watch<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Hurricanes @ Golden Knights
8 p.m. ET on ABC \/ CBC \/ Sportsnet \/ TVA<\/p>\n

You should check it out; it\u2019s been pretty interesting so far.<\/p>\n

Full NHL schedule here<\/a>. Try streaming games like these for free on Fubo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd1d Chris Johnston\u2019s latest trade board is up, and there\u2019s a shakeup<\/a> at the top. We could see some fireworks<\/a> this offseason, which is good because the free-agent market is looking \u2026 yeesh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc51 Eric Stephens weighs in on the Kings hiring Peter Laviolette, and he\u2019s not all that inspired<\/a> about it.<\/p>\n

\u26bd So what\u2019s the deal with those super-intense soccer warmups the players love so much? Here\u2019s the inside story of sewer ball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc76 Scott Wheeler has his latest mock draft<\/a>, featuring each of the first 32 picks, while Corey Pronman lets us know what scouts are saying in his draft confidential<\/a>. Money quote: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what the scouts think when you win the lottery. The GM can wipe their ass with your list.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc54 Shayna Goldman wonders why we don\u2019t see more college coaches jumping to the NHL<\/a>, and looks at what teams can learn<\/a> from this year\u2019s contenders. Spoiler: It\u2019s hard to win, but there is a blueprint<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd25 Hailey Salvian continues to be all over a busy PWHL offseason; here\u2019s a rundown of what\u2019s happened so far<\/a>, including American star Hilary Knight\u2019s head-spinning path<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f On a special Monday edition of \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show\u201d Prospect Series, the guys break down what they learned from last week\u2019s NHL Scouting Combine and discuss if players like Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, Chase Reid and Caleb Malhotra hurt or helped their case for draft night. Plus, thoughts on a wild Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Watch here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude2c Detroit DramaIt\u2019s getting ugly in Hockeytown<\/p>\n

In the days after Dylan Larkin\u2019s trade request changed everything<\/a> for the Red Wings, a few things happened. First, everyone tried to figure out whether their team could get him<\/a>. Then we realized that because Larkin has a no-trade clause, he has some control over the process. So, we wondered: Who\u2019d be on Larkin\u2019s list? And just how many teams would make the cut?<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t heard directly from Larkin on the matter. But yesterday, league sources told The Athletic his list of destinations might be just three teams long<\/a>: the Florida Panthers, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Minnesota Wild.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s \u2026 not good. For just about anybody.<\/p>\n

I mean, in some sense, it\u2019s good for fans in Vegas, Florida and Minnesota. It\u2019s nice to know you\u2019re viewed as a destination. Especially for the Wild, who aren\u2019t typically at the front of the line for this stuff, as the Panthers and Knights always are. If stars want to play for you, you\u2019re doing something right.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s bad news for the rest of the league, especially in an age when the Panthers and Knights seem to get all the available players already. Players aren\u2019t property, and they should have some freedom to move around. If we\u2019re entering a new era of players driving their departures<\/a>, that has its pros and cons. But if all those stars are just driving to the same small handful of destinations, that\u2019s an issue. It\u2019s already a problem in MLB and the NBA, and in those leagues the top players tend to want to go to the biggest markets that drive the most revenue, so there\u2019s an argument that it\u2019s at least good for the bottom line. That\u2019s clearly not what\u2019s happening here.<\/p>\n

All of this is downright awful for fans in Detroit. These are some of the most loyal fans on the planet, sticking with a team through a decade-long playoff drought. Larkin was supposed to be the one to lead them out of it, the hometown kid who became captain. Now, he wants out. The job is apparently too much for him. The guy who was supposed to be the face of the franchise would rather go and be the fourth- or fifth-biggest name on a contender somewhere else.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s obviously a bit more to it than that, and we don\u2019t know the whole story yet of why Larkin wants out. Maybe there\u2019s some missing piece here that makes the story make sense. But for now, Larkin is getting hammered in the court of public opinion. When I criticized<\/a> the three-team list yesterday, I got hundreds of replies. I could count the dissent on one hand.<\/p>\n

That leads us to the last bit of bad news: for Larkin himself. He may figure he can ride out the reputation hit for a few months, knowing how eager the hockey world is for a redemption narrative. It worked for Matthew Tkachuk, it\u2019s working for Marner, and it could work for Larkin, too. But the difference is that Marner was a pending unrestricted free agent and Tkachuk had one year of team control left. Their teams had to take what they could get.<\/p>\n

Does GM Steve Yzerman have to give in here? I don\u2019t think he does. Pierre LeBrun doesn\u2019t think so either<\/a>. With five years left on Larkin\u2019s contract, the Wings could decide to play hardball. That probably doesn\u2019t make sense if Yzerman has most of the league to deal with, because somebody will make him an offer that\u2019s worth moving on from a captain who wants out. But three teams \u2014 none of whom have much to offer in the way of high picks or prospects \u2014 and that\u2019s it? Yzerman might decide it\u2019s not worth his time to entertain the idea and tell Larkin he\u2019ll see him at camp. Then what<\/a>? <\/p>\n

There\u2019s irony here, because there was absolutely a time when the Red Wings would have been the team star players were lining up to join, and the Panthers would have been the team everyone was bailing on. These things shift over time, which is a good reason not to overreact. And while larger trends might be concerning, that doesn\u2019t mean we should dump on every individual player who wants a change of scenery. After all, players get only one career. They should use whatever leverage they have.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just not sure Larkin has as much leverage here as he seems to think. If the reports are true and his initial list was really just those three teams, then he\u2019s betting Yzerman will fold. He might be right. But if this turns into a protracted battle and Detroit fans have to choose between the captain who led them to three Stanley Cups and one who wants to quit on his team, I have a feeling I know which way they might go.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Chris Pronger in Game 1 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. (Jim McIsaac \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Trivia Answer<\/p>\n

Though Marner was the 15th player to get a penalty shot in the Stanley Cup Final, only one was ever scored: by Chris Pronger, who did it for the Oilers against the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the 2006 Final.<\/p>\n

(You of course already knew all of that, because you read all my articles<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4821,385,99,1793],"class_list":["post-694019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-vegas-golden-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}