RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) 鈥� Colton Sissons smiled widely and raved about how much fun it was to play in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night.
He and the Vegas Golden Knights traded chances, goals, saves and counterpunches with the Carolina Hurricanes, getting the championship series off to a terrific start. Vegas won a that usually would drive an old-school coach like John Tortorella crazy.
鈥淚 think he enjoyed it,鈥� Sissons said. 鈥淥bviously the result.鈥�
It was a game so good even Torts enjoyed it.
Game 1 had a little bit of everything, from Nikolaj Ehlers scoring 25 seconds in for the Hurricanes and lifting an already riled-up crowd to its feet to each goaltender making big saves to keep the puck out of the net. The only thing missing was that got these teams to this point, but that only made for a more exciting opener.
鈥淏oth teams played good defense for certain minutes, other times not,鈥� Tortorella said. 鈥淵ou just never know what鈥檚 going to happen.鈥�
The goals
What happened was a lot of scoring from two of the best defensive teams in the playoffs. It was the first Cup final game in history with a goal in the first 30 seconds of each of the first two periods.
Ehlers scored his first off the rush and second on a breakaway. The two-goal lead lasted all of 80 seconds before Shea Theodore scored, and Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson put Vegas ahead, rallying from another deficit.
鈥淚t was great from our group to kind of battle back,鈥� Theodore said.
Jordan Staal scoring his first goal at this stage of the playoffs since 2009 and breaking older brother Eric鈥檚 record for the longest gap between Cup final goals brought the crowd back to life. So did Shayne Gostisbehere tying it with under nine minutes left in regulation.
With time ticking closer to overtime, the Golden Knights made one more highlight-reel play in a night full of them. Colton Sissons鈥� backhand pass set up Tomas Hertl 鈥� who also had a rough go the first couple of rounds 鈥� for the go-ahead goal with 3:34 left in regulation.
The saves
Long before Sissons and Hertl teamed up on the winner, each guy was denied on a Grade-A scoring chance by Carolina’s Frederik Andersen. At the other end of the rink, Carter Hart made some 10-bell saves of his own.
Logan Stankoven got in all alone on a breakaway in the first with a chance to break the game open.
鈥淭hat could鈥檝e been a dagger,” Sissons said.
Instead, Hart made that save and kept Vegas in the game throughout. His best came with under four minutes left and the score tied, flashing his glove to rob Seth Jarvis, Carolina鈥檚 top-line right wing whose snakebit struggle of a run continued.
鈥淗e gives us so much confidence,鈥� Sissons said. 鈥淲hen we needed him most, he was there.鈥�
The drama
The start of the Cup final quickly got the NHL past a lackluster third round, when Vegas swept Colorado in the West and Carolina bounced back from a rough start against Montreal, winning four in a row to that had been an issue for so long.
Fans were buzzing from pregame warmups, and the two teams put on a show worth the hefty price of admission.
鈥淚 thought it was a great game from both sides,鈥� Theodore said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a loud building to play in front of.”
After a ton of excitement between two hockey powerhouses, viewers can only hope for six more games just like this one.
___
AP NHL: and
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
