Golden Knights-Hurricanes 2026 Stanley Cup Final by the numbers

The Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes by the numbers:

Of the 76 playoff games so far were decided by one goal or by two with the second being an empty-netter. That's the second-highest rate in a playoffs in NHL history.

Different unique matchups in the final now with Vegas against Carolina, after Florida and Edmonton faced each other back to back in 2024 and '25.

Years since John Tortorella coached the Tampa Bay Lightning to their first Stanley Cup title. There was no champion the following season because it was wiped out by a lockout.

Years since now-Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour captained the team to the Stanley Cup. That was Carolina's last trip to the final.

Previous sets of brothers have won the Stanley Cup with the same franchise. Carolina's Jordan Staal is looking to join Eric from 2006 to make it 17.

Players in the series who participated in the Milan Cortina Olympics, the first involving NHL participation since 2014.

Players on the rosters who have won the Stanley Cup before. Eleven were on Vegas during its 2023 title run, including Carolina's William Carrier. Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal won it in 2009 with Pittsburgh.

Days the Hurricanes had off between the second round and the Eastern Conference Final, the longest gap between rounds since at least 1920. They lost Game 1 to Montreal 6-2 before winning four in a row to advance.

Goals apiece for Vegas' Brett Howden and Pavel Dorofeyev, who are tied for the most in the playoffs. Carolina's Logan Stankoven is next with nine.

Seasons of existence for the Golden Knights. They are in the final for a third time and are going for their second championship.

Combined losses between the teams in the playoffs, the fewest by the finalists since the NHL went to four rounds of best-of-seven series in 1987.

Players who have the chance to get retribution after losing in the Olympic gold-medal game. Vegas’ Mark Stone, Mitch Marner and Shea Theodore and Carolina’s Seth Jarvis played for Canada, which outshot the U.S. 42-28.

Players who have the chance to pull off the Olympic gold medal-Stanley Cup double. Vegas' Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin and Carolina's Jaccob Slavin were all part of the U.S. team that beat Canada in overtime in the final in Milan.

Goals-against average for Carolina, the best in the playoffs. It's the lowest since the 2012 Los Angeles Kings, who won the Cup.

Loss by Carolina through the first three rounds, following sweeps of Ottawa and Philadelphia and a five-game series victory against Montreal in the Eastern Conference Final. The Hurricanes are the first team to do that since the change to four rounds of best of seven in '87.

Coaches before Tortorella who swept the Presidents’ Trophy winner in two different playoff series. Tortorella’s Golden Knights did so to NHL-best Colorado in the West final, seven years after his Columbus Blue Jackets swept Tampa Bay in the first round in 2019.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, middle, celebrate after winning Game 4 of the Western Conference finals NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Carolina Hurricanes' Jordan Staal (11) skates to accept the Prince of Wales Trophy following Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

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 Jordan Staal (11) shoots against Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson (71) during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Oct. 20, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Candice Ward, file)

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not attend an annual parade honoring Israel on Sunday, breaking with a decades-long political custom because of his support of Palestinian rights.

Though it has gone by different names over the years, the Israel Day parade has always been a must-attend event for mayors, governors and other political leaders eager to win over the throngs of flag-waving revelers who congregate on Fifth Avenue to celebrate the birth of the Jewish state in 1948.

Not so for Mamdani. Two weeks ago the mayor's office released a video commemorating the Nakba, an Arabic word for “catastrophe” that is used to describe the displacement of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment.

“I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear,” Mamdani said at a news conference Thursday.

But he also promised a robust police presence to make sure it went off “seamlessly and peacefully.”

The city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, did attend the parade.

“It is the mayor’s decision not to march, and it is my decision to march proudly,” she had said Thursday as she stood alongside Mamdani at police headquarters.

The mayor's absence, though long expected, has given fresh fuel to opponents who view his criticism of the Israeli government as antisemitic.

A delegation of members of Israel’s hardline government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, attended the parade. The visit came nearly two weeks after the far-right settler leader said the International Criminal Court was seeking an arrest warrant against him and marked his first trip to the United States since March 2025.

Rabbi Marc Schneier, founding senior rabbi of The Hampton Synagogue on Long Island and president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which advocates for better relationships between Jews and Muslims, called Mamdani’s decision to not attend the parade “a slap in the face to all Jewish New Yorkers.”

“Do us a favor, stay home,” he said. “We don’t need you. We don’t want you.”

Schneier also slammed Mamdani’s Nakba video as “propaganda,” echoing concerns from other Jewish leaders who said it excluded context about Jewish peoples’ displacement during the period.

The video, which appeared to be the first such recognition from a sitting New York City mayor, featured the story of a woman who was displaced at 9 years old, interspersed with text about the Nakba, as she described a feeling of missing home, saying “it’s the soft hills of Palestine that actually touched me.”

“I’ve lived in different places, and I’ve always been an outsider,” said the woman, Inea Bushnaq.

Supporters of Israel were outraged, saying the video should have acknowledged the mass displacement of Jews from Muslim-majority countries or the role that the mass slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust played in the drive to establish a Jewish state.

Mayors in New York City, which has America’s largest Jewish population, have long been visible supporters of Israel, often visiting the country.

Support for Israel among Americans has deeply eroded in recent years, though, a trend that accelerated amid the outcry over Israeli military action in Gaza..

Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has remained steadfast in his pro-Palestinian advocacy.

He has said he believes Israel has a right to exist but not as a hierarchy that favors Jewish citizens. Simultaneously he has pledged to protect Jewish New Yorkers and highlighted the work of the city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

A participant rides a unicycle during the Israel Day Parade, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Emil T. Lippe)

Spectators wave flags during the Israel Day Parade, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Emil T. Lippe)

A parade participant smiles up at spectators during the Israel Day Parade, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Emil T. Lippe)

A parade participant cheers on the crowd during the Israel Day Parade, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Emil T. Lippe)

Parade participants wave flags to the crowd during the Israel Day Parade, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Emil T. Lippe)

Spectators cheer on parade participants during the Israel Day Parade, Sunday, May 31, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Emil T. Lippe)