Six players remain from the initial 2017-18 team that lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in the final. The Knights have set the standard of what an expansion franchise should look like, making the Cup Final in their first season and the playoffs in every year but one. Missing from the lineup was Matthew Tkachuk, the king of game-winning shots during the playoffs but never the same after crushing blow to his shoulder by Vegas’ Keegan Kolesar in Game 3. You grind and you grind and you grind.”Īaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky was overwhelmed in another tough performance against Vegas after carrying Florida to the final.

The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds.

I can’t even describe the feelings in my stomach right now. “The look in my teammates eyes when I got it, one of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. Not only is Vegas a hockey town, it’s a championship town.”Īs captain, Stone was the first to lift the cup before handing it over to the six Misfits to each get their turn skating with the trophy before handing it down the line to the rest of the team. “What has happened here has been simply incredible. “What’s going on inside this arena and outside is incredible and a testament to what a great hockey market this is. “Vegas, you certainly know how to throw a party,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the crowd. The nine goals tied the record for the most in a Cup Final. Cassidy sounded confident the day before the game that his team would play well, and it certainly did, blowing open a one-goal game in the second period to lead 6-1. LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Golden Knights delivered their city a true Vegas-style party from dazzling passes to Mark Stone’s hat trick to all-out goal celebrations, capturing the young organization’s first Stanley Cup with a 9-3 romp over the beaten up and exhausted Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.Ĭoach Bruce Cassidy, in a nod to the Knights’ brief history, started five of the original Vegas players known as the Misfits and put the sixth on the second shift.

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