Captain Mark Stone notched a hat-trick and Nicolas Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy each added singles as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 on Tuesday and claimed their first ever Stanley Cup won .
Vegas defeated Florida in five games, capping a 111-point season that saw them finish first in the Western Conference. It’s a spectacular feat for the NHL’s second youngest franchise, which has won a title in its sixth year.
Stone opened the scoring with a sub in the first third, fending off Jonathan Marchessault before stopping just in front of Panthers goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky to secure the 1-0 lead. Hague controversially added a safety mark when Jack Eichel threw the puck toward the net, where it was briefly pocketed. There was a whistle and then Hague struck. After a quick check, the call was accepted.
Golden Knights captain Mark Stone put in a great performance to lead his team to Game 5 victory. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad got his team on the field and beat Vegas goalie Adin Hill with a clean wrist shot from the point, but any optimism for a Florida comeback was short-lived. Martinez scored his second goal of the playoffs, accepting a shot from Eichel and flicking a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky for a 3-1 lead. It’s been nine years to the day since Martinez scored the winning goal for the Los Angeles Kings in 2014.
From then on, the router was on. Smith scored in an open cage, Stone added his second of the night, then Amadio added to the scoring charts as the Golden Knights held an insurmountable 6-1 lead at the second break. Barbashev scored in the third period before Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett countered for the Panthers shortly after and the result was already decided.
With just under six minutes remaining in the final frame, Stone capped his hat-trick with a goalless goal. With a goal in the last minute, Roy put an exclamation mark on the victory.
Marchessault was awarded the 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded annually to the playoff MVP.