The Carolina Hurricanes got good news ahead of the Stanley Cup Finals, as the oddsmakers are favoring them to beat the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Hurricanes took care of business on Friday night with a commanding 6-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals to win the best-of-seven series 4-1. They now meet the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals, and they are the home team.
They are also the favorite to capture the Stanley Cup, according to the bookmakers.
Carolina Hurricanes Favored to Win NHL Stanley Cup
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Hurricanes are -155 betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup, while the Golden Knights are +130 betting underdogs.
During the regular season, the Hurricanes came in first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 53-22-7 record for 113 points, second in the league only to the Colorado Avalanche. During the playoffs, the Hurricanes swept the Ottawa Senators in the first round 4-0, swept the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round 4-0, and then beat the Canadiens in the ECF 4-1 to make it back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2006, when they beat the Edmonton Oilers to win the cup. Overall, this is the third time in the Hurricanes’ history that the team is in the Stanley Cup Finals, as they also lost to the Detroit Red Wings in 2002.
The Hurricanes are an excellent team that has great coaching with former team captain Rod Brind’Amour leading the way. They have a solid team defense, good goaltending, and they have four lines of forwards that can both score and check. In many ways, they have been a team that has been ready to break through for several years now, and finally, in 2026, they have the chance to do so when they play the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Vegas is Red Hot
While the Hurricanes are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year, you can’t discount the possibility of Vegas pulling off an upset. Ever since the team fired former head coach Bruce Cassidy in March and replaced him with John Tortorella, all they have done is win.
In eight regular-season games with Tortorella behind the bench, the Hurricanes went 7-0-1 to finish the regular season strong and steal the Pacific Division by two points over the Oilers. Then, in the playoffs, the Golden Knights have really found their groove.
In the first round, the Knights beat the Utah Mammoth 4-2, then they beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 in the second round before sweeping the Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals 4-0. The sweep over Colorado, which finished first in the NHL with regular-season points and won the Presidents’ Trophy, was incredibly impressive and showed that Vegas is not to be messed with.
Like the Hurricanes, the Golden Knights have won one Stanley Cup in team history, accomplishing the feat in 2023. They also made it to the finals in their first year as an expansion team in 2018, so this team has had a ton of success in a short period of time.
But with the Hurricanes having home-ice advantage in this series, they are favored to beat Vegas in the finals and win the Stanley Cup. It all starts on Tuesday, June 2 in Raleigh, North Carolina for Game 1.
Carolina Hurricanes Get Good News Ahead of Stanley Cup Finals