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Golden Knights score three in third to take 1-0 lead against Panthers in Stanley Cup Final

The Vegas Golden Knights took Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final with a 5-2 win against the Florida Panthers Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

It was the Golden Knights’ second consecutive win and 13th victory of the postseason, tying the franchise record for most playoff wins set back in 2018.

It was a tight contest for most of the night, but Vegas’ three unanswered goals in the third period proved to be the difference. Vegas held the Panthers’ star players in check and delivered another balanced, team-wide effort. The Golden Knights won the special-teams battle, Adin Hill outplayed Sergei Bobrovsky, five different players scored for the Golden Knights and Vegas never sat back, regardless of the score.

The Golden Knights now lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.

First period

It was somewhat of a chaotic opening 20 minutes, with plenty of scrums, punches thrown and an overall lack of discipline. It took Vegas a while to settle in, but by the end of the frame, the Golden Knights were buzzing, with all four lines generating chances.

Both goals in the first period came on special teams; more specifically, both came on Vegas power plays.

Eric Staal opened the scoring with a shorthanded tally on a disastrous power play for the home team. Though it was solid execution on Florida’s part, Vegas essentially handed over the first goal of the series.

First, William Karlsson’s stick broke at the point, forcing him to skate to the bench and neutralizing the Golden Knights’ manpower advantage. Then, the Golden Knights sent an errant pass towards Alex Pietrangelo at the blue line, leading to a turnover. Anton Lundell collected the puck, skated around the out-of-position Karlsson and then fed the streaking Staal along the left side. Hill overcommitted, and Staal made him pay on a wraparound for his second goal of the playoffs.

But the Golden Knights knotted things up at 1-1 on a gorgeous one-timer in front by none other than Jonathan Marchessault. The former Panthers forward’s 10th of the playoffs – tied with Karlsson for the most in a postseason in franchise history – came off a slick feed from Chandler Stephenson from below the goal line, and Bobrovsky had no chance on the play. The goal came with 2:42 remaining in the period.

Second period

Early in the second period, Hill made one of the greatest plays in Golden Knights history.

He came up with the timely save of all timely saves, pulling off highway robbery with his stick a la Braden Holtby in Game 2 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

Hill was completely out of the play but reached back in desperation and absolutely stoned Nick Cousins with a stunning paddle save. Pietrangelo followed up the save of Hill’s career with a great stick check to rob Cousins yet again on the rebound.

“That’s an unreal save; it’s a game-changer,” Bruce Cassidy said after the game. “You need those saves at key moments. We didn’t play our best game in front of him. … We eventually found a rhythm and we were able to score some goals for him so he didn’t have to be perfect by any means, but that was a big save.”

Another game-changer came courtesy of Shea Theodore, who made a dazzling play of his own later in the frame. Theodore, who has had a quiet and inconsistent postseason, completely undressed Anthony Duclair, who was hobbled after blocking Theodore’s shot earlier on the shift. After eluding Duclair, Theodore fired a top-shelf laser past Brett Howden’s screen, finding twine for his first goal of the playoffs and second point of the game.

It was an absolutely filthy move, as Theodore skated backwards along the blue line, spun around with the puck, deked, faked and then skated into the high slot and beat Bobrovsky.

The entire shift was a great example of the confident and skillful Theodore of old who hadn’t reared his head much through the first three rounds.

The Golden Knights played an excellent period of hockey to grab hold of the momentum, but a rough shift towards the end of the frame proved costly.

Duclair scored right off the faceoff, won cleanly by Aleksander Barkov, beating Hill with just 10.2 seconds remaining in the second. Vegas had been dominant in the faceoff circle prior to that play, but it was a significant loss at a key moment in the game.

“We gave up a late goal, but I’d rather it then than at the start of the third,” Cassidy said, “so we have time to go in and regroup and sort of say ‘settle down’ and ‘get back to work.'”

Third period

That’s exactly what Vegas did in the third period.

“It’s a tough bounce, those things happen,” Theodore said. “I thought we had a good second period, and we were just trying to build off that.”

The Golden Knights scored three unanswered goals in the final frame, starting with one by another Vegas rearguard.

The goal came after a 2-on-1 chance for Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev was shut down by Bobrovsky. The two followed up the play to get the puck out to the point, where Zach Whitecloud fired one through traffic and into the back of the net.

“Obviously, any way you can contribute, that’s what every guy on this team is looking to do,” Whitecloud said. “Just contribute in different ways and try and help the team win.”

He did just that, as his goal proved to be the game-winner.

But the Golden Knights didn’t take their foot off the gas.

Mark Stone had prime scoring opportunities all night but was thwarted by the play of Bobrovsky. However, late in the third period, he finally broke through, and it was a beauty.

He knocked Matthew Tkachuk’s clear attempt out of mid-air before firing it past Bobrovsky to give Vegas a 4-2 lead with 6:19 remaining. The goal was reviewed for a high stick but was upheld.

From there, things began to deteriorate, as Florida’s frustration mounted. In the end, the referees handed out game misconducts to Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Stephenson, setting up a four-minute power play for the Golden Knights with 4:24 remaining.

Even with a two-goal lead and a power play, Hill still had to make a huge stop in the final minutes of the third on a Sam Reinhart breakaway.

“We had some holes today, including right to the end,” Cassidy said. “We gave up a shorthanded breakaway with two defenseman on the ice. So just one of those nights; I think the emotion was in the building, and everyone was caught up in it a little bit. Thank god [Hill] was nice and calm in there.”

Just after Hill’s pad save, the other former Panthers forward, Reilly Smith, scored on the open net to seal the 5-2 win and solidify Vegas’ 1-0 series lead.


The victory puts the Golden Knights three wins away from claiming the ultimate prize.

This series is just getting started, though.

Game 1 was closer than the final score would indicate. Though Vegas played well and capitalized on its chances, the Golden Knights were not perfect, and the Panthers were far from their best after the long wait between rounds.

“I liked our start because there’s so much unknown going into that one,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We sat for so very long, so I liked how we came out there. … It was a bunch of things we can get a little bit better at, but it’s going to be tight. Both goalies made some big saves, special teams will keep getting better on both sides. … We’ll learn as we go.”

As Maurice said, both goalies played very well, shutting down some of the other team’s best bids throughout the contest.

That being said, the Golden Knights brought Bobrovsky down to earth a bit, handing him his first road loss of the postseason and snapping his five-game winning streak. Bobrovsky gave up four goals on 34 shots for an .879 save percentage and, more importantly, looked human.

Hill made a lot of impressive stops as well, including arguably the save of the year.

“I guess that’s kind of the stuff you dream of when you grow up, making that big save,” Hill said.

It was eerily similar to Holtby’s version of “The Save” from five years ago, especially considering it happened at the same end and in the same building.

This time around, Vegas is hoping to be on the right side of such a save when the dust settles.

Though Hill got involved and actually threw a punch in a post-whistle scrum early in the first period, he eventually settled down and looked as cool, calm and collected as he has been throughout the playoffs. Whether he was distracted on the ensuing shorthanded goal is unclear, but much like he did in Game 6 against the Oilers, he found his groove and was largely perfect for the rest of the night.

The Golden Knights did a lot of things well; they were aggressive, forechecked well, stepped up on the penalty kill and never looked rattled, even in the face of Florida’s overtly physical play.

“We do have a veteran group, and I think it showed going into the third, and I think it showed late in the game when we were able to keep our discipline and get to the finish line,” Cassidy said.

The Golden Knights held the scorching-hot Tkachuk off the scoresheet and limited him to two shots. Tkachuk turned the puck over on Stone’s goal in the third period and later got himself thrown out of the game.

But again, this game was closer than the final score would indicate.

The Panthers hit the post three times, and this was a 2-2 game through 40 minutes. But the Golden Knights made the most of their chances and delivered in yet another stellar showing in the third period. They also largely refrained from getting sucked into Florida’s antics in an emotional and physical game. Maintaining that discipline will be imperative moving forward.

“We knew that’s how they wanted to play,” Theodore said. “We’re just trying not to play into it; we’re going to try and take the power plays when we can and try and capitalize.”

Several Golden Knights players had particularly solid games, including Eichel, Stone, Hill, Brett Howden and Theodore, who had a standout performance in his best game of the playoffs. Theodore looked more aggressive and seemed more comfortable offensively, scored a dandy and made a difference throughout the game.

“Shea has the ability to move laterally as good as any defenseman I’ve ever seen,” Cassidy said. “He’s starting to see his game come around; it started in the Dallas series. His legs are under him, he’s skating and pushing the pace. We need him for the secondary offense.”

Pietrangelo also made some strong plays, including his stick check on Cousins on the rebound as well as some key blocks on an early Florida power play.

It was a good night for the Vegas blue line in general.

After chipping in three goals in the first three rounds, the back end scored twice in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. It was another instance of Vegas’ depth paying dividends.

Another example was the play of Howden, who had at least three grade-A chances but was unable to convert, though he did record the secondary assist on the Theodore goal and set the screen on the play.

Eichel, who tallied two assists in his first Stanley Cup contest, was noticeable all night and continues to be on the verge of breaking through.

Marchessault’s clutch play carried over into the fourth round, as he scored a massive goal late in the first period to even things up at 1-1. After not scoring in the first seven games of the playoffs, he has 10 goals in his last 11 games.

This was the Golden Knights’ ninth come-from-behind win of the postseason, which leads all playoff teams.

However, it’s just one game and just one win. After all, the Golden Knights won Game 1 of the 2018 Final against Washington before losing four straight.

“It’s a good feeling, but at the same time, we’re not even close to being done,” Theodore said. “We have three more wins to go; we’re going to be focused on next game and just go from there.”

The Golden Knights will look for similar results in that “next game” on Monday night. They will need to be sharp and ready in Game 2 as the Panthers look to even things up before the series shifts to Florida.