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Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup | Instant Reaction

The Athletic Hockey Show

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With the Stanley Cup in the building, the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights, capturing their second Stanley Cup in franchise history. Max and Shayna look back on a memorable Stanley Cup Final, Jordan Staal winning the Conn Smythe, the disappearing act by the Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner, and the storybook ending for Brandon Bussi, who won three straight games in relief of Frederik Andersen in the Final.

This episode was recorded live at 11:30pm ET on Sunday, June 14, 2026.

#hockey #stanleycup #nhl #stanleycupplayoffs #hurricanes #goldenknights

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12 Comments

@mr0glass 3 months ago

Great game from late-series Mitch. Wonder if his "team" will keep trash talking various media members with poorly-written DMs?

@soxbearshwks8988 3 months ago

from a Hawks fan, great series to watch, Congrats Canes

@chuckwright8889 3 months ago

Canes were healthy and had a good share of puck luck....this is one of the big differences from years past.

@canesmojo 3 months ago

sigh Bussi’s play did not “taper off” Look at his game log for the year — he lost consecutive games on cue — a 3-loss speed bump in between a 9 game win streak and a 7 game point streak to finish the season.

@garyclegg3722 1 month ago

Canes fan here. Great show! Appreciate objective analysis you provided. Thank you

@GeorgeEllin 3 months ago (edited)

9:53, Montreal took the Canes to OT for Games 2 and 3; they run out of luck, bounces, and energy. Moreover, while the Habs, the Bolts, and the Sabres were beating themselves up, Carolina was resting for weeks at a time. I am happy for Brind'Amour, Staal, Hall, Stankoven, because they did win it despite the cards they are dealt (e.g. Rantanen, Kotkaniemi)

@williamarmour1656 3 months ago

Coach the team that you have. Use the skills in front of you. Coach needs to adapt to the team.
Not the team to the coach. RB used, adapted and molded
the players available to him/them.
Don’t get this wrong;
It’s Not the Berube way or Tortorella or
Cassidy or Cooper.
They adapt to the players they have;
And find a way.
RB’s achievement is
hopefully breaking that mould. The hockey world needs to ask & discuss.

@moosemagic3429 3 months ago

So much for the heroes like, Sid AO, Modano, Sakic, Barkov, Kopitar, linchpins of their team that stuck it out and eventually won. Those guys are gone now we got Eichel, Rantanen, Hughes, Marner, Tkachuk, guys that look around and say fk it... its easier "over there... now Larkin has a three team list, that's bout as shitty as you can get

@NattyLegend123 3 months ago

Marner only scored 29 points in these playoffs, what a bum :face-red-droopy-eyes:

@d3lucks 3 months ago

As someone outside North America I go to yt for highlights of the overnight games, desperately trying to avoid any spoilers. Unfortunately this thumbnail and title made that impossible. Definitely in the minority here, but would be great if you could consider this in the future!

@izzrk 3 months ago

But Marner DID step up in game 6- he scored a key goal! 😉 JK- he had a fantastic playoffs- it was nice to see him enjoy the game and not be paralyzed with worrying about disappointing his hometown.