Stanley Cup Final 2026: Vegas Comes Back To Win Game 1

Tomas Hertl scored the game-winning goal with 3:23 remaining in the third, breaking a 4-4 tie.

Carolina's Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring with the third-fastest goal to open a Stanley Cup Final at 25 seconds before adding another goal roughly 11 minutes later. At that point, with the Hurricanes outshooting Vegas 11-3, it felt like Carolina was going to run away with Game 1. 

But after getting hit in the mouth early, the Golden Knights fought back. Over the course of 12 minutes of game time, Vegas would score three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead.

"I thought both teams played good defense for certain minutes. Other times, not," Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella said. "You just never know what's going to happen. I've said it all through the playoffs; this is a find-a-way league. We found a way tonight."

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Jordan Staal tied it heading into the third, but a Vegas power play to start the third gave the Golden Knights momentum, resulting in the team’s fourth goal by Brett Howden just after it expired. Howden's 11th goal of the playoffs puts him at the top of the NHL, one ahead of teammate Pavel Dorofeyev.

Carolina defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere tied it at four with just under nine minutes to play in the third. That was until Hertl’s fourth goal of the postseason.

Shea Theodore finished with a goal and two assists for Vegas, Brayden McNabb had three assists, and both William Karlsson and Ivan Barbashev scored for the Golden Knights. 

Carter Hart made 23 saves for Vegas. Frederik Anderson stopped 18 of 23 for Carolina, who now trail in a series for the first time in the 2026 playoffs.

"We didn't handle the pressure particularly well," Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Vegas' comeback after trailing 2-0. "Sometimes there wasn't pressure, and we kind of made a few poor decisions with the puck, and they capitalized."The Hurricanes also fall to 0-2 when allowing more than two goals in a game. Vegas has now won seven straight games dating back to Game 5 of its second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.

Carolina now has to put Game 1 behind it as it looks to avoid falling behind 2-0 in the series. Historically, teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final win over 90% of the time. Only five teams have ever come back from trailing 2-0 in a Stanley Cup Final to win, the last being the Boston Bruins in 2011.

Game 2 takes place Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.