Hurricanes Slight Favorites Over Golden Knights to Capture Stanley Cup Crown
Posted on: June 2, 2026, 02:38h.
Last updated on: June 2, 2026, 02:46h.
- Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes square off in Raleigh for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final
- Tough series to handicap, said DraftKings’ Johnny Avello
- Bettors looking at Vegas’ experience, with three Cup Final appearances since 2017-18
The lines are tight, but the Carolina Hurricanes head into Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights tonight (June 2) as betting favorites.
Great Betting Series Expected
Puck drop is 8 p.m. EST, live from the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, NC.
At BetMGM, the Hurricanes are -149, while the Golden Knights are +125. Most of the Moneyline bets and handle are going Vegas’ way – 58% and 68%, respectively. The Hurricanes are betting favourites to win the series, and the Stanley Cup, sitting at -150 at DraftKings. The Golden Knights are +130.
It’s going to be a great betting series,” said Johnny Avello, Director of Race and Sports Operations for DraftKings.
The “Torts” Effect
The Vegas Golden Knights have a great playoff reputation, which might explain the higher tickets and handle percentage, said Avello.
Las Vegas entered the NHL as an expansion franchise for the start of the 2017-18 season, and since that time have been to the Stanley Cup Finals three times, including a Cup win in 2023.
Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon spoke yesterday about the team’s depth, plus a new-found commitment to defensive structure under head coach John Tortorella, or “Torts”, who only took over the top job March 29 after the team fired Bruce Cassidy.
Better Roster Depth
Most NHL teams have one dominant line. The Golden Knights have legitimate top six depth – Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner (with the shortest odds to win the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP at DraftKings this morning, at +155), Mark Stone, Tomas Hertl, Pavel Dorofeyev, Ivan Barbashev, William Karlsson, and Brett Howden.
“Bettors like (the Golden Knights) as a ‘dog, but there’s no clear-cut winner,” said Avello. “Carolina doesn’t really have the experience, where the Golden Knights have been there recently.
This is a really tough series to handicap. Edge might go to Carolina and defence. Or the edge might go to Vegas and offence. I think that (Vegas) price is very attractive to bettors.”
Attractive Pricing
The Hurricanes took out the Montreal Canadiens in dominating fashion the previous series, in five games, and are 12-1 in the playoffs. The Vegas Golden Knights swept the Colorado Avalanche in four straight in their previous series, in what was the greatest upset of the playoffs, since the Avalanche won the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s best regular season record.
At DraftKings, for tonight’s game, Vegas is +130, Carolina -155.
Avello said DraftKings is in “pretty good shape” with the Golden Knights from a liability standpoint compared to Stanley Cup finalists in recent years.
“The local contingent, in the casinos that have sportsbooks in Vegas, like to bet the Golden Knights,” he said. “They know they are a competitive team that wins a lot. I’d say the sportsbooks in town here are underwater on the Knights. That’s not the case with us, being a sportsbook in many jurisdictions, with Las Vegas not being our only action. We’re not getting bombarded with Vegas Golden Knights money.”
Sharps Not There Yet
Sharps are not in on the series yet, Avello reported yesterday, with the +130 likely not being enough value for them to be betting the Golden Knights, but that could change with in-play wagering tonight, and once the series gets beyond Game 1.
“As popular as Vegas can be, they aren’t quite in the same realm as Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers,” said Karry Shreeve, Head of Hockey at Caesars Sportsbook. “Simply, the way that the team is constructed and has the best player in the world is such an attractive quality to the betting public.
“Both the Hurricanes and Golden Knights are just very solid teams who play the game the right way and don’t necessarily create that ‘sizzle’ that the Oilers have had the past couple of Cups.”
Player Props for Game 1
Nothing earth-shattering to report on the player prop front at DraftKings, Avello added, except Golden Knights’ goalie Carter Hart Over 28.5 saves (-120).
Shreeve said at Caesars Sportsbook, Stone “is getting quite a bit of love”.
At Tonybet, Sportsbook Manager Mārtiņš Korulis said Andrei Svechnikov of the Hurricanes has been getting strong interest in scoring and player matchup markets.
“That suggests bettors are looking for value and favorable prices rather than simply backing the biggest names,” he said. At this stage, a Vegas Golden Knights championship wouldn’t be a bad result for Tonybet.
Betting Action On Both Sides
We’ve seen action on both sides of the series, as well as across a variety of player and series-special markets, which has helped spread exposure rather than concentrating it on a single outcome,” he said. “While Vegas has attracted support in the outright market, we’ve also taken plenty of action on Carolina-related player and series markets. From what we’ve seen so far, the book is fairly balanced heading into the Final, so the overall result will depend more on how some of the higher-paying player and specialty markets perform than on the series winner alone.”
Shreeve added Caesars Sportsbook is in a good position despite how the series plays out, with the Avalanche now eliminated from the playoffs.
“Colorado was going to be the public winner, and we’ve obviously avoided that,” he said.
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