The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning! Make history today. Coming up:
While You Were Sleeping: Another day, another titleBruce Bennett / Getty ImagesTwenty-four hours after the Knicks broke a title drought, the Carolina Hurricanes decided it was their time. A fitting end to a whirlwind two weeks of simultaneous championship series. And Carolina’s win was just as impressive as New York’s:
The Canes ended a 20-year Stanley Cup drought with an intense, suffocating 3-0 win over the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. Jordan Staal, at 37, is the Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) winner. Rod Brind’Amour enters the directory of people who have won titles as both a player and coach of the same franchise. They finished this playoff run a staggering 16-3, identical to the Knicks’ run.
But I am just still struck by Brandon Bussi, the rookie goaltender who stepped into the starting role during the Stanley Cup Final and spun up a gem (22 saves) in the title clincher. Who does that? No matter what happens the rest of his career, the 27-year-old will always have this.
Read more in our full recap. And for the second time in two days, we said goodbye to a sport for a while — the only sad part in all of this. I guess we’ll have to drown sorrows in this incredible World Cup.World Cupdate: A beautiful day of soccerI am in Houston this week for a couple World Cup matches, and what I witnessed yesterday will stick with me forever. Not only for the grandeur and importance of the moment — this was my first World Cup match, to be clear — but for what actually happened on the pitch in the most interesting 7-1 blowout win possible.Two quick points:
