Jun 13, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate the win over the Florida Panthers in game five of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
NHL: Stanley Cup Final-Florida Panthers at Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, to win their first Stanley Cup in just their sixth season as a franchise.
Vegas captain Mark Stone, 31, had a goal in each period to lead the Golden Knights to victory, and became the first player since 1922 to net a hat-trick in a Stanley Cup winning game.
“Unbelievable,” Stone said. “The look in my teammates eyes when I got it, one of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. I can’t even describe the feelings in my stomach right now. It’s everything you can imagine. The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds. You grind and you grind and you grind.”
Nicolas Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Ivan Barbashev, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio also scored goals for Vegas in Game 5.
Forward Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Marchessault finished the playoffs with 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists).
The top team in the Western Conference, the Golden Knights finished the regular season with a record of 51-22-9 (111 points).
Las Vegas is the second-fastest franchise in the league’s modern era to win a championship (the Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup in that franchise’s fifth season in the NHL.
“What has happened here has been simply incredible,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said postgame.
“Not only is Vegas a hockey town, it’s a championship town.”
