Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights Game 6 Prediction, Stanley Cup Final Odds
The Hurricanes are slight -115 favourites on the Stanley Cup Final odds to finish it off with a total of 5.5 goals.
Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights NHL Betting Odds
Either Carolina wins its second-ever Stanley Cup on Sunday night – also in 2006 and this is the team’s first time back since – or Vegas forces a Game 7 back in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday. I think most hockey fans who aren’t Hurricanes backers want to see a winner-take-all in this fabulous series. The only seven-game Stanley Cup Final this decade was Florida over Edmonton in 2024.
On the updated series line, the Hurricanes are -400 favourites (already favoured to win the 2027 Cup too) and the Golden Knights +320. The over-under for total games is 6.5, and I’ll lean over because I think Vegas does hold serve Sunday. That Carolina then wins in seven is +230 and that’s my pick. Carolina lost its only trip to Las Vegas during the regular season and is 1-1 there this postseason.
We have a new favourite for the Conn Smythe Trophy as it had been Vegas forward Mitch Marner, the former Maple Leaf, for a few games, but he’s now the +270 second-favourite behind Carolina veteran forward and team captain Jordan Staal (-125). No other player is priced below +700, so it appears yet again that a goaltender will not win playoff MVP. Only one has since 2013.
Carolina Hurricanes
For the first time in this series, we had a higher total of 6.5 for Game 5 –at least at some books – and for the first time in this series, we didn’t have a game with at least seven goals scored as Carolina prevailed 4-2 at home on Thursday for it second straight win. Andre Svechnikov was the No. 1 star with two goals, while No. 2 star Nikolaj Ehlers had three assists. The third star was rookie goalie Brandon Bussi as he made 23 saves in his second career playoff start. Bussi had replaced a struggling Frederik Andersen in Game 3, got his first start in Game 4, which he won, and clearly will remain the guy for Sunday. Bussi is the first goaltender ever to make his first two career playoff starts in the Stanley Cup Final and win both.
I mentioned new Conn Smythe favourite Jordan Staal above, and he had a goal to become the fifth player in NHL history to record a goal streak of five or more games at any point in a Stanley Cup Final. Staal has six total goals in the series, and with another Sunday the Thunder Bay native would tie Wayne Gretzky (seven in 1985) to become the only team captains in league history with at least seven goals in a Stanley Cup Final.
Vegas Golden Knights
Does Vegas coach John Tortorella finally have to make a change from Carter Hart in net? With the Game 5 loss, he became the first goalie in history to allow at least four goals in five straight Stanley Cup Final games. The Golden Knights have a solid backup in Adin Hill, and he was a big reason why the franchise won its only Cup in 2023. But Hill hasn’t seen action this year since April 9 and had a fairly mediocre regular season. And it apparently will be Hart again but you might see a short leash. But if Vegas only manages two goals again as in Game 5, the team’s fewest in the series, then it likely won’t matter whom is in net.
Former Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner leads the postseason by far with 29 points, so that title is likely in the bag but he had zero in the Game 5 loss. Pavel Dorofeyev had both Vegas goals and is up to 12 in the playoffs, trailing only teammate Brett Howden (14). Another forward in William Karlsson left Thursday injured and is likely out for the series. He has played on the Golden Knights’ power play and their penalty kill. While Vegas had a power-play goal in that Game 5 defeat, it allowed two and won only 41.5 per cent off faceoffs. History is against the Knights winning this series as teams down 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final are 8-37 all-time in it and have lost 10 straight series.
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