RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Nineteen players have registered a point for the Carolina Hurricanes during their nearly perfect playoff run. The Vegas Golden Knights have gotten at least one from 22 players on their way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Carolina has 12 different goal-scorers. Vegas has 15.
“They’re deep, we’re deep, so it’ll be a good matchup,” Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb said.
A matchup so close on paper that the Hurricanes are a very slight favorite. They've won 12 of 13 games through three rounds and have home-ice advantage.
But after NHL-best Colorado got swept by Vegas, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he and his team “ran into a buzzsaw.” The Western Conference Final was one-sided with the Golden Knights dominating.
“They dismantled Colorado,” player-turned-ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro said. “I don’t know if there’s ever such a thing as perfect, but whatever next door to perfect was, that’s how they played in that series. It’s what they are. This is their team, and they’re healthy.”
So are the Hurricanes, which could lead to an epic series.
Games 1 and 2 are Tuesday and Thursday night in Raleigh, where the fanbase full of Caniacs has been waiting years for the team's first trip to the final since 2006. Carolina won it all that year, with now-coach Rod Brind'Amour as captain.
Games 3 and 4 are Saturday night and June 9 at the arena on the Las Vegas Strip that has become known as the Fortress. The Golden Knights hoisted the Cup on home ice there three years ago.
If necessary, Game 5 is June 11 at Carolina and Game 6 is June 14 at Vegas. If a Game 7 is required, at Carolina, it would be June 17.
Every game will air in the U.S. on ABC and in Canada in English on CBC and Sportsnet and in French on TVA Sports.
With Vegas, Mitch Marner has gone further in the playoffs than ever before in his NHL career, which included only first- and second-round exits during nine years in Toronto. Marner leads all scorers with 21 points.
Not far behind is Jack Eichel with 18, three years removed from playing a big role in the Golden Knights win the Cup. And he's just as good at keeping the puck out of his team's net.
“Jack Eichel might be the best 200-foot center in the game right now,” 2003 Cup champion Mike Rupp said.
Vegas has gotten timely saves from Carter Hart, especially in the West final when he stopped 118 of the 125 shots he faced. Carolina has ridden goaltender Frederik Andersen to this point, counting on him to come up big on quality chances while outshooting opponents.
“He’s so strong mentally,” said retired goalie Cory Schneider, who like Rupp now is with NHL Network. “He’s able to play games where he only sees eight or nine shots and make the save he has to make. Some goalies really struggle with your team possessing the puck all game and now you get that breakaway and you’ve got to find a way to make a save.”
The Hurricanes’ best players during the regular season were Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov. Their second line of Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake has led them here as their leading scorers.
“Lots of times, coaches throw three names together and it looks like it’s going to work and it doesn’t,” Ferraro said. “Stankoven and Blake and Hall, they fit.”
For Vegas, the standout scoring stars of the playoffs have been Brett Howden and Pavel Dorofeyev, with 10 goals apiece. The Golden Knights also have three players — Marner, captain Mark Stone and defenseman Shea Theodore — who lost in the Olympic final with Canada. Jarvis was also on that team.
Eichel, teammate Noah Hanifin and Carolina's Jaccob Slavin have the chance to pull off the gold medal-Stanley Cup double after winning in Milan with the U.S.
AP Sports Writers Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Mark Anderson in Vegas contributed to this report.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Carolina Hurricanes center Seth Jarvis (24) and Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner (93) go for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Oct. 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward, file)
FILE - Carolina Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (82) collides with Vegas Golden Knights center Colton Sissons (10) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Oct. 20, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Candice Ward, file)
FILE - Carolina Hurricanes left wing Eric Robinson (50) and Vegas Golden Knights center Colton Sissons (10) battle for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Oct. 20, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Candice Ward, file)
BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Five patients have recovered from a rare type of Ebola virus, the head of the World Health Organization said Sunday during a visit to Bunia in eastern Congo, a city at the heart of an outbreak.
“Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the opening of a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
“Of course, we’re still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn’t mean that people cannot recover from Ebola,” he added.
The WHO said Friday a patient had recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. It was the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak.
The health organization said authorities have reported 134 confirmed cases in Congo and neighboring Uganda, including 18 confirmed deaths as of May 29.
Baraka Bulambulu, one of those who recovered, told The Associated Press on Sunday that community members feared contracting an unknown illness from them, keeping their distance while delivering food and medicine.
He said the uncertainty was overwhelming, as he and other patients believed they might die without knowing what disease they had, though testing eventually confirmed Ebola.
“Being able to come out of this alive is an immense source of happiness,” Bulambulu said. ”Many people who were in the same situation died.”
Ezo Étienne, a nurse, said his symptoms began during ward rounds when he suddenly felt dizzy, then rapidly deteriorated into vomiting, intense itching, severe diarrhea and extreme weakness. He was tested seven times before Ebola was confirmed.
His treatment remained purely to treat the symptoms: medications to control vomiting, fluids to prevent dehydration and pain relievers. “That was all they could provide,” he said.
He urged the public and healthcare workers not to dismiss early symptoms such as vomiting and headaches, warning that misinformation leads many people to believe they have been poisoned rather than seeking hospital care.
Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said Saturday the virus continues to spread faster than the response despite better-organized health facilities and new aid arrivals. It called for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.
The dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims’ bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.
Tedros stressed the importance of involving the community in the outbreak response during the opening of the new treatment center on Sunday.
“If you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover, so the key is to come forward as early as possible and to get the necessary support," the WHO chief said.
“We can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule ... is this thing is everybody’s business and every citizen should be involved,” he added.
Attacks in the region by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.
ADF fighters killed seven people Saturday in Beni, North Kivu province, an area also affected by the outbreak, the Congolese army and civil society groups said.
The illness also has been reported in both North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu.
“The final message we would like to share with the Ituri community is that there is hope,” Pierre Akilimali, incident manager at Congo's National Institute of Public Health, said during the inauguration on Sunday.
“With the symptomatic treatment that we are currently providing, we are seeing patients recover,” Akilimali added.
“We truly have hope. The virus here is not as complicated as those we have dealt with in the past, and with the support of all our partners, we believe we will be able to bring this outbreak under control as quickly as possible,” said Davin Ambitapio, another doctor at the treatment center.
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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.
A health worker takes the temperature of the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who arrived to meet health workers who recovered from Ebola in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, meets with health workers who recovered from Ebola in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
A view of a ward at the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM) during a visit by the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visits the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM) in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, center right, visits the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM) in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visits health workers at the Evangelical Medical Centre (CEM) in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
