RALEIGH, N.C. — So much for a low-scoring game.

This Stanley Cup Final pits the best defensive team in the Eastern Conference through three rounds — Carolina and its 1.62 goals against per game — vs. the best defensive team in the Western Conference through three rounds — Vegas and its 2.38 goals against per game, not to mention the two goalies with the best save percentage in the league through three rounds — Frederik Andersen (.931) vs. Carter Hart (.924).

After eight combined goals in the first 56 minutes, Tomas Hertl snapped a 4-4 tie with 3:24 left with a snipe from between the circles to help lead the Golden Knights to a come-from-behind 5-4 win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center.

Hertl’s goal came just 19 seconds after Hart robbed a snakebitten Seth Jarvis.

The Golden Knights stormed back from a 2-0 lead, at one point taking a 4-3 lead early in the third period on Brett Howden’s league-leading 11th goal until, after Logan Stankoven won a 50-50 puck off a faceoff, Shayne Gostisbehere tied the score with a blast past Hart.

The Golden Knights won their seventh consecutive game and, with the return of Jeremy Lauzon from injury, it was the first time since opening night that they were completely healthy. Vegas handed Carolina only its second loss in 14 playoff games.

Nikolaj Ehlers scored two first-period goals, including becoming the second player on record since 1997-98 to score on the first shot of the game (25 seconds in). Shea Theodore then scored on a deflected shot — the first of three goals on five shots by the Golden Knights as they stormed back to take a 3-2 lead early in the second on goals by Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson.

Barbashev’s goal came 30 seconds into the second, making this the first Stanley Cup Final game in history where there was a goal in the opening 30 seconds of the first two periods.

But Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal tied the game at 3-3 with his first Stanley Cup Final goal in 6,202 days.

Theodore and Brayden McNabb had three points each.

Teams that win Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final go on to win the Cup 76.4 percent of the time (81-25), including a 60-14 (.811) record when the home team takes the first game and 21-11 (.656) as the road team.

Game 2 is Thursday night back in Raleigh before the series heads to Sin City.

Ehlers strikes twice in the first

For years, the Hurricanes played with perfect structure in the playoffs, only to be stopped short by a glaring flaw: they lacked a game-breaker capable of shattering a game wide open. When Andrei Svechnikov tore his ACL three years ago, Florida swept them. Last year, the Panthers beat them again, winning in five games. Carolina needed an antidote to their playoff heartbreak, so they spent $51 million last summer to bring in Ehlers.

On Tuesday night, it took exactly 25 seconds for Ehlers to strike.

Rocketing down the ice on Carolina’s first shift of the Stanley Cup Final on a two-on-one, Ehlers fired the game’s first shot into the back of the net. By the time he buried a breakaway later in the period to make it 2-0, the Lenovo Center was in a frenzy. He became the third Dane ever to score on hockey’s biggest stage, logging the fastest Final opener since 1976 and matching a first-period multi-goal feat not seen since Al MacInnis in 1989. The Canes finally have their game-breaker.

Jalen Chatfield assisted on both of Ehlers’ first-period goals, the second on a beautiful headman chip when Ehlers cherry-picked behind Vegas’ defense. He became the 10th defenseman in NHL history to record multiple points in the opening period of a Stanley Cup Final, and the second in the past 33 years. — Russo

Off night for the goalies

A Conn Smythe Trophy is not lost in one game, but the playoff MVP chances of Frederik Andersen and Carter Hart took a hit with equally shaky performances to start the Stanley Cup Final.

Andersen, seen as a Conn Smythe front-runner by many after three playoff rounds, gave up three goals on his first eight shots against in Game 1 and seemed to be fighting it, especially in the second period.

Andersen was also shaky in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final with Montreal before completely shutting down the Canadiens the rest of that series.

It has been an emotional past week for the veteran goalie, dealing with the death of his longtime agent, Claude Lemieux.

Hart, meanwhile, gave up a goal on the opening shot of the Cup Final. But it’s Staal’s 3-3 goal 12:42 into the second period that Hart needed to have. It was a great shot by Staal from the top of the faceoff circle, but that’s a save all day long by top NHL goalies. And while it was probably distracting to see Nic Dowd fall to block the shot just as Shayne Gostisbehere shot it, the 4-4 goal that beat Hart short side wasn’t pretty, either.

Hart was dominant in the Western Conference final, very much outplaying his Avalanche goalie counterparts, and that was a major reason for the four-game sweep. But Tuesday night was not his finest. — LeBrun 

Eichel vs. Staal

The matchup between Vegas’ top line, centered by Jack Eichel, and Carolina’s shutdown line, centered by Staal, was expected to be one of the biggest factors of the Cup Final. Through one game, it didn’t disappoint. The lines saw plenty of each other on Tuesday night, with Staal’s line coming out on top in Round 1.

Vegas coach John Tortorella started the game with Eichel, Barbashev and Pavel Dorofeyev. Rod Brind’Amour countered for Carolina with Staal, Ehlers and Jordan Martinook, and they scored on the opening shift. The line struck again in the first period when Chatfield intercepted Eichel’s pass at the Carolina blue line and sprung Ehlers for another breakaway goal.

Eichel’s line punched back early in the second period, tying the game 2-2 with a goal by Barbashev. It was a great shift by Vegas’ No. 1 center. He stole the puck along the wall as Carolina attempted to break it out of the zone, then retrieved his own missed shot and fed a pass to Barbashev in the slot. Barbashev rang his shot off the post and in for his sixth goal of the playoffs.

Staal answered with a goal of his own midway through the second period to tie the game 3-3. It was a snipe of a shot over Hart’s blocker following a giveaway by Vegas high in the zone. The fingerprints of this matchup were all over Tuesday’s game, on both ends of the ice, and that’s likely to continue. — Granger

Canes’ top line blanked

As good as the Stankoven line has been with Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake all postseason, it’s been perplexing how Carolina’s top line really hasn’t broken out.

Jarvis entered the game tied as the team’s fifth-leading scorer and Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho tied for seventh.

“I’d love to have more production,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday morning. “We haven’t needed it yet – fortunately for us, but obviously the amount of minutes they play and the situations they play, we’re going to need them to be on the scoresheet.”

Well, the trio finished the game with no points and six combined shots. Jarvis also flubbed a shot at a wide-open net on a third-period power play and was robbed with 3:43 left by Hart’s quick glove. Nineteen seconds later, Hertl scored. — Russo 

McNabb’s big night

Tuesday night was the 1,005th NHL game of McNabb’s career, including the regular season and playoffs. It was his first with three assists.

McNabb has served as the defensive anchor in Vegas for nine seasons, but isn’t the most offensively inclined blueliner. The puck was following him in Game 1, and he made the most of it with assists on goals by Theodore, Barbashev and Howden.

The bruising defender had only two multi-assist playoff games in his 14-year career, and had only one three-point game of any kind (in the regular season against the Arizona Coyotes on April 9, 2022).

He became the seventh different defenseman in NHL history to record three points in Game 1 of a Stanley Cup Final, and the second in the past 33 years, alongside Rob Blake.— Granger

This story will be updated.

The Indiana Fever have revoked the credential of longtime Indiana Pacers and Fever beat reporter Scott Agness, he shared on his own Fieldhouse Files website.

According to Agness, the Fever notified him via email on May 21 that he would be barred from accessing team events because of a social media report they claim spread “inaccurate and unsubstantiated” information regarding Caitlin Clark’s health status for the season.

Agness formerly worked for The Athletic before launching his substack in 2020. His Pacers credential was revoked in 2024. He claims the decision was made because he parked in the media lot without proper clearance.

The Fever and Pacers both declined to comment to The Athletic.

The report in question came on May 20, when Clark was ruled out 100 minutes before the Fever played the Portland Fire. According to Agness’ post on X, Clark’s unavailability was part of a strategic management plan for the season.

Fever guard Caitlin Clark will NOT play tonight vs Portland Fire. I’m told it’s part of a strategic management plan for the season.

Tonight is the Fever’s fourth game in eight days.

— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) May 20, 2026

“After the tweet while I was in the midst of working on my quick story, I got a text from PR that said, ‘Hey, where are you? Can we talk?’” Agness told The Athletic. “I met (Fever media relations) in the hallway and she shows me her phone and said, ‘What is this? This is false.’”

Agness said he listened “patiently” before telling Fever media relations staff that he had a “trusted, reliable source” and stood by his reporting.

Fever coach Stephanie White negated Agness’ report during her pregame press conference on May 20.

“There’s no managing,” White said. “She’s healthy. We’re not managing anything. This is just a back issue that we want to make sure we give the time to be ready.”

Agness said he did not contact the Fever in an attempt to confirm his reporting prior to posting to X.

“Because I knew what they were going to say,” Agness said. “It was a trusted source that I know is spot-on. The other thing is, I felt if anything, this was helping them out.

“If you go inside the quick story, the point of it was there is no new injury; she is healthy. This is part of the bigger plan, the strategic management-type plan. The point in my mind was to emphasize to fans she’s good, no worries. This is just part of the recovery process after everything she’s been through last year.”

Agness said all of his correspondence with the Fever regarding his credential status has been via email.

Clark’s first absence of the 2026 season drew heavy scrutiny after the Fever failed to list her on the team’s injury report despite her missing practice the day before their game against the Fire. The Fever also did not update the injury report at any point Wednesday even though Clark woke up with what White described as “some stiffness and some soreness.”  The Fever were later given a warning by the WNBA for violating injury report protocol.

The WNBA did not immediately return a request for comment.

“The (Professional Basketball Writers Association) objects in the strongest possible terms to any reporter losing access for the act of reporting,” the PBWA chapter board said in a statement shared with The Athletic. “Any effort to prevent reporters from doing the work of informing the public reflects poorly on any team and league which attempts to do so, and runs contrary to the best interests of all involved, most of all the public.”

Agness said he’s had “a few” conversations with PBWA leadership over the last week. His sense from those conversations is that there’s been “no movement” toward reinstatement.

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — It is normally not a great sign when you show up 90 minutes late to your own rehearsal dinner.

In this case, though, Brenden Aaronson’s family was willing to forgive the tardiness.

Aaronson was named to the U.S. men’s national team 2026 World Cup roster on May 26. The only problem: When he and his then-fiancé, Milana D’Ambra, picked a date for their wedding more than two years ago, the expected start date for World Cup training camp was June 1.

That date moved up by a week last December, which meant Aaronson’s wedding day, May 30, 2026, was now smack in the middle of World Cup training camp and two days before a friendly against Senegal.

The Leeds winger got permission to leave U.S. camp to get to Manahawkin, N.J., for the ceremonies. He was late to the rehearsal dinner, got married on Friday and left at 2:30 a.m. on his wedding night to take a car service back to Philadelphia so that he could get to Atlanta in time for training on Saturday ahead of the friendly. Aaronson took the first commercial flight back and trained ahead of the game, though he was eased back into training.

That crazy itinerary only added to what had been a fast-moving last week, with Aaronson closing out the Premier League season with Leeds before flying to New York for the roster announcement and then down to Atlanta for the start of camp ahead of the wedding.

“For me it was a whirlwind couple of days, but also a really amazing whirlwind of days that I’m never gonna ever forget,” Aaronson said. “It was really special.”

In the best man speech, Aaronson said his younger brother, Paxten Aaronson (Colorado Rapids; four USMNT caps), humorously recounted the panic when the couple learned their date was now in conflict with Aaronson’s dream of playing at a second consecutive World Cup.

“We were kind of freaking out,” Brenden Aaronson said. “Because you put so much time and effort into it. I mean, (Milana) put so much time in, let’s be honest, she put so much into doing the wedding, and it was just really scary.”

Aaronson went to U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino in March when the U.S. met for friendlies against Belgium and Portugal and — with Milana’s endorsement — offered to move the wedding date. Aaronson said it was an easy conversation with Pochettino because of how open the coach is during camps.

“I told him I’m completely OK with moving my wedding,” Aaronson said. “I can move it, I’ll do whatever I can to be on this roster. Me and my fiancée were on the same wavelength. Milana gets a lot of credit for that. It’s not easy to be leaving on a wedding night. But she’s been with me since the beginning, she knows how many days that we’ve been through doing all the football stuff. For her to be as cool as she is, it’s amazing.”

Pochettino, instead, approved a plan that would allow Aaronson to leave camp for the nuptials and then return.

“I’m very lucky that I got to go and spend that day,” Aaronson said. “And I’m really grateful to the coaching staff for that. It was an amazing day for myself, but I’m really ready to get back to work and get ready for the World Cup.”

USMNT’s Brenden Aaronson was one of two field players who did not feature against Senegal (Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)

Aaronson was back in Atlanta on Saturday morning and given a boisterous greeting by his teammates, who had hoped to take in the wedding day via FaceTime with Gio Reyna’s wife, Chloe, who attended the ceremony. Aaronson did not play in the U.S.’s 3-2 win over Senegal, however — one of three players to not get in; goalkeeper Matt Freese and forward Haji Wright were the others — and said he is eager to be back in training and preparing for a friendly against Germany.

He hopes he’ll get a chance to make an impact on the field, he said, and to carry over his form from Leeds, where he played in 37 games, starting 30, and scored four goals with five assists.

“It’s good because of course, the season that I come off of, I think it’s the best in my career, playing at the level that I was, and I’m really just looking forward to being able to hopefully show myself against Germany,” Aaronson said. “And if not, go into the trainings and show what I can, make sure that I can do whatever I can to get on the pitch, and if not, (then) supporting the guys the best I can, always.”

And as for the honeymoon? No plans yet — but most likely avoiding any future tournaments.

“No, no delayed honeymoon,” Aaronson said. “I can’t even think about doing the honeymoon right now, to be honest with you. We did go to Paris before the end of the season, so that was nice. But, I think we’ll figure (that) out at some point in the future, for sure.”

Richards, Adams training on side Tuesday

At USMNT training back in Fayetteville, 24 of 26 players training.

Tyler Adams (load management) and Chris Richards (still training individually due to ankle) inside pic.twitter.com/riuvwqAAkb

— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) June 2, 2026

U.S. center back Chris Richards was on the official roster the federation submitted to FIFA Monday despite an ankle injury that kept him out of Crystal Palace’s UEFA Conference League final and out of the team for the Senegal friendly.

Richards remained inside doing individual work during the portion of training open to media members on Tuesday. Midfielder Tyler Adams was also inside for load management.

The U.S. will train in Georgia for the next several days before traveling to Chicago for a send-off match against Germany on June 6 at Soldier Field. The U.S. then opens the World Cup on June 12 against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles.