Back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2018 and trailing the Florida Panthers less than ten minutes into Game 1, the Vegas Golden Knights sent a very clear message.
“We were ready,” Jonathan Marchessault said.
Ready and relentless. Vegas rallied from an early deficit, scored the go-ahead goal from Zach Whitecloud with just over 13 minutes remaining and arguably the best save of the entire playoffs from Adin Hill and beat Florida 5-2 Saturday night to take the lead in the best-of-seven series.
“We kept our composure, and it was good,” said Marchessault, one of six original Knights players left from the inception of the franchise in 2017 who scored the tying goal in the first period. “We just wanted to play the right way and be disciplined, and tonight we were able to be the better team.”
Whitecloud put the Golden Knights ahead, a game altering penalty kill ensued and captain Mark Stone scored an insurance goal that was reviewed for a high stick and confirmed. Reilly Smith put an exclamation on the contest with an empty-netter to make the score look more lopsided than the game actually was.
The combination of that prolific offense and Hill’s 33 saves put Vegas up after a feisty and scrappy opener between Sun Belt teams who wasted little time getting acquainted with big hits during play and plenty of post-whistle pushing and shoving.
“It’s exactly what we expected,” said Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore, who scored his first goal of the postseason and snapped a 27-game drought dating back to March 7. “That’s how they wanted to play. We were just trying not to play into it.”
That stuff is just beginning. Game 2 is on Monday in Las Vegas.
Before the Panthers even got a chance to respond, they ratcheted up the physical play late after falling behind by two. A handful of penalties resulting from a skirmish with 4:24 remaining, left the Florida bench compromised.
The outcome was decided long before that.
After falling behind on a short-handed goal by Eric Staal that zapped the energy out of the capacity crowd of 18,432, the Golden Knights rallied for their ninth comeback win of these playoffs. Marchessault, known since arriving in Las Vegas for scoring clutch goals, answered the call before the end of the first period.
Early in the second, Hill made a desperation stick save to rob Nick Cousins of what would have been a sure goal. The save was reminiscent of the one Washington Capitals’ Braden Holtby made against Vegas, in the same crease, five years earlier.
“That’s an unreal save — it’s a game-changer,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You need those saves at key moments.”
Giving up a tying goal to Anthony Duclair with 10.2 seconds left in the second period did not slow down the Golden Knights’ momentum much. Whitecloud’s goal, with two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky screened and unable to see, fired up fans once again.
Bobrovsky, in the final for the first time, downplayed any reason for concern after stopping 29 of 34 shots and losing for just the second time in 12 games this postseason.
“I played a good game,” Bobrovsky said. “I played a solid game. They created some good chances other than goals. They had lots of good scoring chances, and that was fun.”
Part of the fun came when play was stopped.
Less than 10 minutes in, Hill took exception to Nick Cousins crashing into his crease and gave the agitating Panthers winger a jab that incited a handful of scrums. During the second period, Matthew Tkachuk let Vegas’ Nic Hague know he did not take kindly to a hit in the corner on Cousins and a collision with Brandon Montour after the whistle.
“If guys are going to come in my crease and try to push me around, I’m going to stand my own ground,” Hill said. “I’m not going to do anything too crazy or get too wild, but, yeah, I’ve got to stand up for myself.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice, back in the finals for the first time since 2001, displayed a similarly calm demeanor as he did all the way back in the opening round, when his team fell behind 1-0 then 3-1 to NHL-best Boston Bruins before winning in seven.
“It’s going to be tight,” Maurice said. “Everybody breathe.”
The Golden Knights are in the final for the second time in six years of existence, five years after making it in their inaugural season. Vegas won the opener in 2018 and lost the series to Alex Ovechkin and Washington in five games.
The Panthers are back playing for the Cup for the first time since 1996. Florida got swept by the Colorado Avalanche in that final 27 years ago, a year and a half before Tkachuk, the team’s leading scorer this playoffs, was born.
It is the 66th different matchup of teams in the Cup final in NHL history and the 46th since the expansion era began in 1967-68. This is the first time since Washington-Vegas and just the third time since the turn of the century in which the final features two teams who have never won the league’s championship.
