The Vegas Golden Knights got a hat trick from Mark Stone on Tuesday night, and won their first Stanley Cup Championship with a lopsided 9-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in game five of the NHL Finals at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Knights win the best of seven series 4-1, winning the Cup in their sixth season as a franchise.
Vegas scored both goals of the first period and never trailed, as Stone lit the lamp shorthanded at 11:52 and Michael Hague tallied at 13:41 for a 2-0 lead. After Florida cut it to a one goal deficit when Aaron Ekblad scored 2:15 into the second, it was all Golden Knights after that scoring five consecutive times including four in that second period to take a commanding 6-1 advantage after 40 minutes. They added a total of three more goals in the third period for good measure, including the third of the game by Stone unassisted at 14:06 for the hat trick.
Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhardt both had a goal and an assist in the loss for the Eastern Conference Champion Florida Panthers, who played without injured winger Matthew Tkachuk. Florida finishes off an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals as the #8 seed out of the East, stunning top seeded and record setting Boston in the opening round before defeating Toronto and Carolina to advance to meet Vegas. The Panthers finish the year with a record of 55-40-8. Stone had the three goals for the Golden Knights, while Jack Eichel and Shea Theodrore had three assists each. Reilly Smith also had one goal and one assist, as 15 players registered at least one point to cap off a postseason that Vegas never got taken even to a seventh game in any of their series. Adin Hill stopped 32 of 35 shots in goal in the win. Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe as MVP of the playoffs, but Eichel could of also easily won the award. Eichel, who hadn’t made the playoffs in his six years in the league before this year, had 26 points in 20 games in the postseason (six goals, 20 assists) with the assists being the most in Vegas franchise playoff history. The Golden Knights, who were appearing in their second Stanley Cup Final, finish with a record of 67-28-9. The head coach Bruce Cassidy, who was fired by the Boston Bruins last June, wins his first Cup as a bench boss in what was also his second time in the Finals (Boston, 2018-2019).
Story by Chris Lessner/Highlights courtesy of the NHL website
