The Carolina Hurricanes reached category five, and they swept the VGK with no mercy.
By: Gabriela Yareliz
We all underestimated them, but they came ready to grind like a good Southern team. The tarp was off, last night. Yesterday’s win was not luck or circumstance. It was pure grit and systematic grind.
Game six ended with a 3-0 score, and a VGK team that looked chaotic and disjointed. It’s unclear if it was Tort’s decision regarding the lines and keeping Hart in net— many called Torts keeping Hart in as a lapse of judgment or relying on a personal connection from back in the Philly days. Did Tortorella get too sassy? Or did he want it and his team just didn’t want it enough? Were they simply exhausted?
I wasn’t wrong in that this riveting Stanley Cup final was about a comeback. It just wasn’t the comeback I thought (I was wrong there). I still think Tortorella’s rise to the finals was inspiring and quite the story. From sitting out on the sidelines for a bit after getting fired to getting back in the game. It was (and is) an amazing story.
The real comeback kid was Rod Brind’Amour. Twenty years after he won the cup as Carolina’s captain, his team vindicates his coaching with some of the most remarkable comebacks in games in finals history— and games five and six were masterful.
Jordan Staal deserved the 2026 Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP Award). The way he spoke about God and his family was moving. I don’t think I have ever witnessed a Stanley Cup win without a tear in my eye. The release after the intense pressure and intensity of the game is such a joyful event. It’s unadulterated joy. Like, when I see them scream, it’s like the soul says, Yasssss.
I think the most emotional part of the evening, for me, was seeing Sebastian Aho lift the cup and Rod Brind’Amour’s emotion as he hugged that thing like they were old friends who had been kept apart for way too long.
Aho— the brother is a savage, and I am so glad he gets to have his name inscribed on that cup. Brind’Amour was giddy.
Jaccob Slavin said, “You can’t play scared.”
I think Slavin’s quote sums up this Stanley Cup finals series.
When the scoreboard doesn’t look the way you want it to; when you are down four; when people count you out; when the stats aren’t predicting your win; when you have lost repeatedly before— it’s not over until it’s over. Play and play hard until the end. “You can’t play scared.” That’s how you win.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 