Vegas Golden Knights defeat Florida Panthers in Game 5 to clinch first Stanley Cup title

The Vegas Golden Knights have always put on a flashy show every time they are on the Las Vegas Strip. The team’s sword-fighting mascot takes the ice before an army of players marches out through the mirrored entrance into the roaring crowd.

If they were ever going to win the Stanley Cup, it would be with the Vegas dazzle.

Vegas brought that energy from stunning passes to Mark Stone’s unmistakable hat trick to all-out goal celebrations, which marked their first title win a 9-3 game over the beat-down and exhausted Florida Panthers last Tuesday night.

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Coach Bruce Cassidy, paid homage to the Golden Knights’ brief history, by starting five of the original Vegas players tagged as the Misfits and putting the sixth one on the second shift. Cassidy was confident the day before the match that his team will perform well, and the certainly lived up to this expectation, blowing open a one-goal game in the second period to take a 6-1 lead. The nine goals tied the record for the most in a Cup Final. 

“Vegas, you certainly know how to throw a party,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said to the crowd. “What’s going on inside this arena and outside is incredible and a testament to what a great hockey market this is.”

The Knights ended the series in five games to win the cup before a whopping franchise-record crowd of 19,058 at T-Mobile Arena that overshadowed the pregame introductions of forward Jonathan Marchessault and goalie Adin Hill and kept cheering until the final buzzer. 

Marchessault who finished the postseason with a 10-game points streak, got the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our team, our organization,” Marchessault said. “Everybody stepped up at different times and that’s why we’re winners.”

Mark Stone’s hat trick with the third into an empty net with 5:54 left was the first in a Stanley Cup Final since Colorado’s Peter Forsberg in 1996, which was also against the Florida Panthers.

Nic Hauge, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy delivered the rest of Vegas’ scoring. Martinez’s second-period goal was scored nine years to the day after he delivered the double-overtime goal in Game 5 to earn the Los Angeles Kings the cup.

Hill delivered another strong performance with 31 saves that quickly garnered him favour with the Knights’ fans, even eliciting  “MVP! MVP!” chants in the third period. Jack Eichel, the 8-year pro playing in his first postseason, had three assists.

“This is what everyone dreams of,” Eichel said. “You come to an organization like this and the expectation is to win this thing. It’s a special place to play.”

As captain of the Vegas crew, Ston was the first player to hoist the cup before handing it over to the six Misfits to each get their turn skating with the trophy before handing it to the rest of the team.

“Unbelievable,” Stone said. “The look in my teammates’ eyes when I got it, was 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.”

Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, and Sam Bennett scored goals for Florida, while Sergei Bobrovsky was overwhelmed in another tough performance against Vegas, permitting eight goals on 30 shots on goal after carrying the Panthers to the final. 

The Panthers’ star forward Matthew Tkachuk was missing from the lineup after playing with an injury in Game 4.