Golden Knights rally by Hurricanes in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final for seventh straight playoff win

RALEIGH, N.C. — Tomas Hertl took a backhand pass from Colton Sisson and beat Frederik Anderson from the slot with 3:24 left in the third period, lifting the Vegas Golden Knights past the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in Tuesday night’s opener of the Stanley Cup Final.

Vegas’ Tomas Hertl celebrates after scoring a goal during the third period of the Golden Knights’ 5-4 win over the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center on June 2, 2026. Getty Images

Hertl’s finish off Sisson’s feed from the right faceoff circle broke a 4-4 tie and pushed the Golden Knights ahead in an entertaining back-and-forth start on the sport’s biggest stage.

It marked Vegas’ seventh straight win of the playoffs, starting with the last two games of the six-game second-round series against Anaheim and then the shocking four-game sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.

Vegas center Tomas Hertl celebrates after scoring a third-period goal during the Golden Knights’ Game 1 win. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

That series included Vegas erasing a 3-0 deficit to take Game 3, and now the Golden Knights have followed by rallying from another multigoal deficit — this time 2-0 in the opening period — against the team that finished second only to the Avs in the regular season.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday in Raleigh.