RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Rod Brind’Amour knows the exact moment he realized the Carolina Hurricanes could be Stanley Cup contenders.“Eight years ago,” he said. That was when Brind’Amour took over as coach, beginning a journey of making the playoffs every year and falling short of the final each time until now. The Vegas Golden Knights were born nine years ago, but from the time they pillaged the rest of the NHL in the expansion draft through this spring, they have set championship expectations. They made the final in their inaugural season and won it all in 2023. Their third visit to the Cup Final is perhaps their most surprising.This Vegas-Carolina final is almost a decade in the making for a pair of teams in non-traditional markets that have become powerhouses. The collision course brought them to this moment, a best-of-seven series that begins with Game 1 on Tuesday night.“It’s for all the marbles,” Golden Knights forward Cole Smith said. “Just the way they play, they play a really fast game. So do we. It’s going to be a really great series.”
Brind’Amour has been a Carolina constantThe Hurricanes won their only Stanley Cup championship in 2006, when Brind’Amour was their captain. He played 9 1/2 seasons for them and spent seven more as an assistant before getting named coach in 2018. He has been a part of 98 of Carolina’s 100 playoff victories since the franchise formerly known as the Whalers moved from Hartford in ’97.“Roddy’s been at the helm of it the whole time and just establishing the culture that we do have here,” said defenseman Jaccob Slavin, now in his 11th season with the team. “It’s been building and building and we’ve been close and knocking at the door. I think we finally just have the right personnel, the right commitment, the right buy-in because our game really hasn’t changed.”
