The Vegas Golden Knights are the 2023 Stanley Cup champions after defeating the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Mark Stone scored a hat trick, and six other Golden Knights found twine in a dominant showing by Vegas. Fifteen different players on the home team found the scoresheet in another collective team effort.
Stone opened the scoring with Vegas’ first shorthanded goal of the postseason 11:52 into the first period, and Nicolas Hague made it 2-0 less than two minutes later. Though Florida broke through early in the second to make it a one-goal game, the Golden Knights completely took over in the middle frame with four goals in the final 9:32. Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Stone and Michael Amadio combined to make it 6-1 through 40 minutes.
Florida got two back in the third, but the Golden Knights added three more of their own – courtesy of Ivan Barbashev, Stone and Nicolas Roy – to close out the win.
Adin Hill delivered yet another stellar performance, keeping the Golden Knights in the game during Florida’s pushes, especially early in the first and second periods. Hill finished the night with 31 saves on 34 shots for a .912 save percentage; he went 11-4 since taking over the crease for the injured Laurent Brossoit in Game 3 of the second-round matchup against Edmonton.
Hill and the Golden Knights won Games 1, 2 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final before collecting the all-elusive win No. 16 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Conn Smythe Trophy was awarded to Jonathan Marchessault as the MVP of the playoffs. Marchessault finished the postseason second in scoring with 25 points and tied for first with 13 goals; he scored countless clutch goals and played a crucial role in helping the Golden Knights advance from round to round.
But the true prize was picked up by Stone and then handed off, one by one, to every member of the Golden Knights in celebration of the historic feat.
The Golden Knights became the fastest non-Original Six expansion franchise to win the Stanley Cup, doing so in the franchise’s sixth season.
To get there, the Golden Knights eliminated the Winnipeg Jets in five games, the Edmonton Oilers in six games, the Dallas Stars in six games and the Florida Panthers in five games en route to the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. They finished the 2023 postseason with a 16-6 record.
The six members of the original Golden Knights roster – Marchessault, William Karlsson, Smith, William Carrier, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore – earned redemption after falling short in their first stab at the greatest trophy in sports back in 2018. Five of them found the scoresheet, and Bruce Cassidy elected to give the Misfit Line as well as the long-term pairing of McNabb and Theodore the start in a fitting tribute to the “Golden Misfits” era of the franchise.
They also were the first six players to lift the Cup after Stone.
Chandler Stephenson, who was on the opposing side of the 2018 matchup, is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and is 2-0 in Game 5 to clinch the Stanley Cup at T-Mobile Arena. Alex Pietrangelo and Barbashev also are two-time Cup winners, while Martinez, Phil Kessel and Jonathan Quick will now sport three Cup rings.
Cassidy, who played a monumental role in the team’s epic journey, is a first-time Cup winner after falling in seven games in 2019. Other notable players who have never had their day with Lord Stanley are Stone as well as Jack Eichel, who had a fantastic game with three assists and finished first in scoring with 26 points.
Additional first-time winners who participated in Vegas’ postseason run include Hague, Zach Whitecloud, Keegan Kolesar, Roy, Brett Howden, Amadio, Teddy Blueger, Ben Hutton, Brayden Pachal and Brossoit. Paul Cotter and Logan Thompson also played key roles for the Golden Knights during the regular season.
Vegas finished the regular season as the top seed in the Western Conference with a 51-22-9 record and 111 points, securing home-ice advantage throughout the first three rounds and, ultimately, in the Final.
The Golden Knights wrapped up their fifth postseason appearance in six seasons with a 9-3 record on home ice, including win No. 16.