Jordan Staal Drives Conn Smythe Odds With Five-Game Final Run
Jordan Staal has pushed his conn smythe odds to the front of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final race by tying the NHL record for the longest goal streak in a Cup Final at five games. The Carolina Hurricanes captain is also leading the series in several key categories as they take a 3-2 lead into Game 6.
He scored twice in Game 4 at Vegas, then kept the streak alive long enough to join a list that includes Yvan Cournoyer, Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard and Cyclone Taylor. At 37, Staal became the fifth player ever to post a five-game goal streak in a Stanley Cup Final.
Staal’s Final scoring surge
Staal has six goals in the Cup Final, and five of them have come from high-danger areas. He leads the series with five high-danger goals, 13 high-danger shots on goal and 17 shots on goal through five games.
Those numbers sit on top of a larger postseason line that has moved him into the center of the award conversation. He has seven high-danger goals among his eight goals this postseason, and in the Final he leads all players with 18 scoring chances.
Carolina’s power play boost
Carolina has gone 6-for-16 on the power play in the Stanley Cup Final, while Vegas is 2-for-15. Staal has two power-play goals in the series and is tied for third in power-play points with three.
That production stands out because he had four power-play goals and no power-play assists in 75 regular-season games. Over the past four regular seasons combined, he had five power-play points.
Jordan Staal in rare company
Staal last had a five-game goal streak in 2007, when he was 18 years old with the Penguins. He won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009, but this run has come at 37 years old and 272 days, which made him the third-oldest player to record a multigoal game in the Cup Final.
Mark Recchi did it at 43 years, 125 days in 2011, and Igor Larionov did it at 41 years, 187 days in 2002. Seth Jarvis and Nikolaj Ehlers have helped feed the offense around him, while Carter Hart has been the goalie on the other side of the chances Staal has been creating.
Carolina enters Game 6 on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET with a 3-2 series lead, and Staal’s case for the trophy now rests on whether this Final run keeps stretching beyond five games.
