From The Sports Desk: Vegas stuns Carolina in Game 1 to open Stanley Cup Final

NHLFrom The Sports Desk: Vegas stuns Carolina in Game 1 to open Stanley Cup Final Plus, the San Antonio Spurs are in the NBA Finals earlier than anyone expected, and Croatia’s Luka Modrić is today’s World Cup spotlight.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Tomas Hertl of the Vegas Golden Knights scores the eventual game winning goal past Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period in Game One of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center on June 2, 2026.Jaylynn Nash / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 3, 2026, 3:00 PM EDTBy Rohan Nadkarni, Andrew Greif and Tim RohanThe NBA Finals are finally here, and what a matchup we have. Victor Wembanyama and the upstart San Antonio Spurs vs. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and the New York Knicks. One franchise is trying to reboot a dynasty; the other is starved for a long-overdue title.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Before the season, no one saw this coming, especially with the Spurs, who are led by a young core of recent draft picks, including Wembanyama, in their early 20s. Can the youngsters carry San Antonio all the way to the title? Our Rohan Nadkarni teamed up with the NBC News graphics team to dive in and see how these Spurs compare with other recent NBA champions. We’ll be live-blogging the game tonight, so be sure to come hang with us. We’ll have more coverage in tomorrow’s newsletter and, as always, on the NBC News website.NBA FinalsStephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs dunks the ball during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder during Game Seven of the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 30, 2026.Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty ImagesIn addition to having Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4 alien who can shoot, pass, dribble and single-handedly stop elite offenses from getting to the rim, what makes the San Antonio Spurs’ run to the NBA Finals unique is that they possess what most champions typica...