Golden Knights tame Panthers to capture 1st Stanley Cup in just 6th year of existence
Stone's hat trick help Vegas become fastest expansion team to win NHL title
The Vegas Golden Knights captured the franchise's first Stanley Cup in just its sixth season of existence on Tuesday after closing out the Florida Panthers at home with a 9-3 win in Game 5 of the finals.
"Unbelievable," Stone said. "The look in my teammates eyes when I got [the Stanley Cup], one of the craziest feelings I've ever had. I can't even describe the feelings in my stomach right now. It's everything you can imagine. The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds. You grind and you grind and you grind."
Stone got Vegas going halfway through the first period on the penalty kill, patiently waiting out Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky before roofing his ninth goal of the playoffs, capitalizing on a miscommunication between Panthers forwards Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe.
WATCH | Stone leads by example, pots hat trick in Cup-clinching win:
Nearly two minutes later, another one of Vegas' prized trade acquisitions, Jack Eichel, helped orchestrate the team's next goal after directing a backhand on net, which defenceman Nicolas Hague converted in close.
Jonathan Marchessault recorded his 25th point of the playoffs on Hague's goal, temporarily moving him past star Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk — who missed the game with an undisclosed injury — for sole possession of top spot in playoff scoring.
WATCH | Golden Knights raise 1st Stanley Cup in franchise history:
Marchessault, previously a member of the Panthers — who left him exposed for selection in the 2017 expansion draft where Vegas acquired him, was awarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy, given annually to the most valuable player to his team during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"I couldn't be more proud of our team, our organization," said Marchessault, whose 13 goals tied Edmonton Oilers' centre Leon Draisaitl for the most of the 2023 playoffs. "Everybody stepped up at different times and that's why we're winners."
The Panthers then responded when defenceman Aaron Ekblad found the back of the net from the point just over two minutes into the second period.
Eichel later tied Marchessault atop the scoring leaderboard after setting up trailing defenceman Alec Martinez off the rush, who fired a shot past Bobrovsky to reclaim Vegas' two-goal lead. A third-period assist later gave Eichel his 26th playoff point (6 goals, 20 assists), permanently surpassing Marchessault's 25 (13 goals, 12 assists).
ALEC MARTINEZ IS JUST INSANE IN THE PLAYOFFS 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/bwpp94hQLK">pic.twitter.com/bwpp94hQLK</a>
—@GoldenKnightsThe excellent playoff run was particularly sweet for Eichel, who was less than two years removed from neck surgery that sidelined him for a significant period of time.
"This is what everyone dreams of," said Eichel, who played in the post-season for the first time of his career in his eighth NHL campaign. "You come to an organization like this and the expectation is to win this thing. It's a special place to play. I can't give everyone enough credit for putting us in this position.
"They call 'em the misfits, those are the guys, they built this. They built this culture. So proud to be a part of it."
The Golden Knights would tack on another goal - the eventual game-winner - in quick succession when William Karlsson set up Reilly Smith with a between-the-legs feed after a Shea Theodore shot was blocked in the slot, earning him a secondary assist.
While Stone got his squad going early in the game, his goal with just under three minutes remaining in the second period to bring the game to 5-1 was the one that left little doubt he'd be the first to receive the Stanley Cup from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman later that night.
And if there was still any doubt, forward Michael Amadio's goal with 1.2 seconds left on the clock in the second frame to bring the score to 6-1 squashed that.
For good measure, Stone would proceed to complete his hat trick in the final frame, converting an empty-net goal 14:06 into the period as the Panthers vainly attempted to claw back into the contest.
Stone's hat trick was the 40th in Stanley Cup Final history and the first since Peter Forsberg in Game 2 of the 1996 final.
ADIN HILL ARE YOU KIDDING?! 🤯 <a href="https://t.co/aR7RxrVHrI">pic.twitter.com/aR7RxrVHrI</a>
—@BR_OpenIceVegas goaltender Adin Hill capped off his stellar playoff run with another signature save in the third period.
The Comox, B.C., native — one of 19 Canadians on the Vegas roster — finished the playoffs with an 11-4 record, along with a .932 save percentage.
"You dream about it every day growing up as a child." said Hill. "To be here with this group of guys, in this city, in this building, is a dream come true."
Redemption for Cassidy
The victory caps a six-year run that saw the Golden Knights accumulate the second most playoff wins in the NHL behind the Tampa Bay Lightning by reaching the Stanley Cup Final in their first season, and finish one series short of the final on two occasions in 2020 and 2021 — both overseen by former head coach Peter DeBoer.
"[Cassidy] came in, brought an intensity to our locker room that maybe we needed," said Stone. "He wanted to win as badly as anybody else in that locker room."
Cassidy's last opportunity as a head coach to win the Cup on home ice came back in 2019, when the host Bruins fell to the Blues 4-1 in Game 7.
"It's a great story — very, very grateful to get another opportunity," Cassidy said. "I'm just here to do my job and it worked out well."
The top seed in the Western Conference powered through the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and DeBoer's Dallas Stars before dispatching the No. 8 seed Panthers — a team that had taken down three of the top four teams in the league in the Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes before meeting their match in Vegas.
Bobrovsky was a major reason for the Panthers climbing to the top of the Eastern Conference, posting a .942 save percentage across an 11-1 run starting in Game 5 of the first round against the Bruins through to completing a sweep of the Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals.
That same magic wasn't there in the finals, with the 34-year-old finishing with an .844 save percentage across the five games, notably getting pulled midway through Game 2, and surrendering eight of the Golden Knights' Stanley Cup-clinching record total of nine goals in Game 5.
"It was a privilege for me to play with them and fight with them," said Bobrovsky. "It's definitely tough to lose that way and end the season that way. But we have done a fantastic job and I want to stick to that."
Building a winner
The Golden Knights' approach to building a championship-winning roster isn't just unprecedented in modern NHL history, it's nearly impossible to replicate for other squads around the league.
Six players remain from the 2017-18 roster that went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final less than a year after holding the NHL Expansion Draft to fill out 30 roster spots from around the league, but only four of those players (defenceman Brayden McNabb, and forwards Marchessault, Karlsson and William Carrier) were official Vegas selections.
The other two (Smith and Theodore) were acquired through shrewd trades with the Golden Knights using the leverage available to them brought about by teams looking to protect assets from being poached by Vegas.
"We waited a long time for that moment to come back," Marchessault said. "We wanted to make sure we cash in this time."
The NHL entry draft has been less of a resource for the current makeup of the team as Hague was the lone Golden Knights draft pick (drafted 34th overall in 2017) to suit up for a game during Vegas' 22-game run. Other top picks such as Peyton Krebs, Nick Suzuki and Erik Brannstrom were shipped out to help bring in top talent, including Stone and Eichel.
With files from The Associated Press
