- Jordan Staal won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Hurricanes beat Vegas 3-0 in Game 6
- At 37, Staal is the oldest Conn Smythe winner in NHL history
- Read below for his record goal streak and the 17-year gap between his two Cups
Jordan Staal is a Stanley Cup champion again, and this time he walked off with the Conn Smythe Trophy too. The Carolina captain was voted MVP of the playoffs after the Hurricanes shut out the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Game 6 on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.
It is Carolina’s first title since 2006, and Staal dragged them to it. He led every player in the Final with six goals and scored in each of the first five games of the series.
The Carolina bench made its pick for MVP loud and clear:
That five-game goal streak tied the longest in Stanley Cup Final history. Staal joined Yvan Cournoyer (1973), Jean Beliveau (1956), Maurice Richard (1951) and Cyclone Taylor (1918) on that list.
He rewrote the record book on age, too. At 37 years and 277 days, Staal is now the oldest Conn Smythe winner ever, passing Bruins goalie Tim Thomas from 2011.
Catch the raw emotion from Staal as Carolina closed it out:
Staal won his first Cup as a 20-year-old with the Penguins in 2009. The 17 years between rings is the longest gap in league history, breaking the mark of Chris Chelios, who went 16 years between his wins with Montreal in 1986 and Detroit in 2002. He came into this run chasing that second title.
The captain finished with a career playoff high of 12 points, eight goals and four assists across 19 games. Rod Brind’Amour was asked after the win whether he saw that kind of scoring coming.
“It’s not necessarily you’re expecting him to put up those kind of numbers, when he does, that’s an added bonus. And he deserves it. He’s playing great.”
Carolina is back on top of the hockey world:
Nikolaj Ehlers led the Hurricanes with nine points in the Final. The Conn Smythe still went to the 37-year-old captain who would not stop scoring.
