Jordan Staal on Game 1 loss: 'It's a battle'

The Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in Game 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final. Team captain Jordan Staal spoke with reporters after the game about what the Canes can expect from Vegas the rest of the series.
Posted 6/3/2026, 3:24:44 AM Updated 6/3/2026, 3:26:05 AM

Yeah they're checking well

One guy was hard and they're they're reading the play

well and getting above our guys and and creating turnovers

in different different areas than we've been used to

So we've got to obviously adjust and find ways to

break the puck out of our end better and and

get it out of our end and and go wear

them down

How frustrating

Yeah it wasn't uh it wasn't great um you know

it uh

didn't look as dangerous as theirs and we have to

be better

There's no question you know there's there's more to be

had and there was a couple of opportunities but um

you know for the most part

The execution wasn't there

Last year he started the same way and it turned

out pretty well for you guys

Yeah it's it's it's a battle and it's going to

be a grind and we're expecting that um you know

it's

A tough loss for sure but like I said we

got to get our game in better shape if we

want to beat this team and

Uh yeah we'll look at it and uh and come

back into it

© WRAL