Hurricanes win Stanley Cup with Game 6 shutout against Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- Twenty years later, the Carolina Hurricanes are Stanley Cup champions again.

"It was our time," coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We weren't going to be denied."

Brandon Bussi stopped all 22 shots he faced, and the Hurricanes set off a Stanley Cup celebration with a heavy presence of their fans who made the trip here, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

"To be honest, I'm feeling a little a numb right now," Bussi said. "I'm sure I'm going to crash at some point, but I haven't yet. … I'm going to remember it obviously forever."

Jackson Blake had a goal and an assist, and Taylor Hall and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Carolina, which finished the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 16-3 record, the fewest games needed to win the Stanley Cup since 1988, when the Edmonton Oilers went 16-2.

"Before the game, like, I've never been so nervous for a game, it's unbelievable," Blake said. "To come out and help our group and do what I could do, do my part to help us win, it really means a lot to me. But it's for these guys. I work hard every day for these guys. It's really special."

Jordan Staal won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player to his team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Carolina captain had six goals in the Stanley Cup Final, including tying the NHL record with goals in five consecutive games, giving him eight goals and 12 points in 19 games in the playoffs.

The 37-year-old is the oldest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy and the first player to go at least 17 years between Stanley Cup championships. Staal also won it with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.

"I'm happy I stuck around," Staal said. "I believed in the culture. I believed in what we were trying to build in Carolina. An amazing feeling to be able to build something like that and then to top it all off with this, I mean, it's an absolute dream come true."

Brind'Amour was the captain of the 2006 Stanley Cup championship team and has been Carolina's coach since 2018-19. He's the seventh person in NHL history to win the Cup with the same franchise as a player and a coach, and fourth to do it as captain and coach.

"It's just as awesome, but as a player it was a little different because I worked and dreamt of winning the Cup my whole life so that was like a piano came off my back," Brind'Amour said. "This time around I wanted, it was for the group. I wanted them to feel what it's like."

Carter Hart made 20 saves, but the Golden Knights lost their third straight game to end the season. Carolina outscored them 12-5 in Games 4-6.

"We put some good minutes in too and we couldn't find our way -- they did," Vegas coach John Tortorella said. "As I've always said, it's a find a way league. All the games were close. It's just trying to find a way. They did tonight and they beat us."

Hall put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 at 3:47 of the first period, scoring with a far-side shot from the left face-off circle that he got off before Noah Hanifin could close on him. The shot went under Hart's left arm and over his left pad.

Blake forced a turnover by Brett Howden at the Carolina blue line. The puck went to Jaccob Slavin, who looked up and saw Hall behind the Vegas defense. The stretch pass connected and Hall did the rest.

"I mean, you need to get that one," Hall said. "Theoretically, it might even be easier to come from behind in a Stanley Cup clinching game, but I was so happy. I couldn't even do a celebration I was so happy."

Bussi kept it 1-0 by stopping Howden on a breakaway at 11:39 of the first period. Hart did the same at 2:49 of the second, when he made a blocker save on Staal after the Carolina captain got in alone.

The Hurricanes went up 2-0 at 13:31 of the second period, when Blake scored on a one-timer from just inside the right circle off a pass from Logan Stankoven. 

The goal came off an aggressive forecheck by Blake and Stankoven, forcing Hanifin into a couple of turnovers in the defensive zone.

"They're a good team when they play and when they're on their game, when they're structured," Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb said. "They're a hard team to beat. We saw that."

Blake finished the playoffs with a team-high 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists), one more than his linemate, Hall (seven goals, 12 assists). Stankoven led the Hurricanes with 11 goals and was fourth with 16 points.

"That's just how we've been all playoffs," Blake said. "We just flipped a switch a little bit of we're going to make an effort every time we're out there. We're going to hound the puck. We're going to make it hard on their defensemen. I mean, 'Stanks,' that's just how he plays. He's a junkyard dog out there. For him to find me, I think it hit something. I don't even know how it went in, I just saw it go in."

Jack Eichel rang a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle off the crossbar late on a power play with 9:30 remaining in the third period. Bussi had no stick at the time.

Vegas pulled Hart for the extra skater with three minutes remaining. Bussi made three consecutive saves, including one on Tomas Hertl off a rebound as he was sitting in the crease.

"Just didn't capitalize our chances," Vegas captain Mark Stone said. "We had a lot."

Ehlers scored into the empty net at 18:52 for the 3-0 final.

"I don't know if this is a dream, I don't know if this is real life," Carolina defenseman K'Andre Miller said. "Just unbelievable."

NOTES: Hall, who was the first pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, is the fourth No. 1 pick to score a Cup-clinching goal after Patrick Kane (2010 with the Chicago Blackhawks), Bobby Smith (1986 with the Montreal Canadiens) and Guy Lafleur (1976 with Montreal). … Bussi's shutout is the ninth in a Cup-clinching game in the past 50 years, and first since Andrei Vasilevskiy's in 2021.