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Adin Hill and the Golden Knights win the first game of the finals

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Adin Hill and the Golden Knights win the first game of the finals
Saturday evening saw the first game of the Stanley Cup Final, pitting the Florida Panthers against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Even if at first glance they don’t look like very attractive clubs, Vegas and Florida have the perfect portrait of a playoff team, with ben de la grit.

There’s Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Nick Cousins and Radko Gudas on one side, and Nicolas Roy, Keegan Kolesar and William Carrier on the other.

Here’s the starting line-up for both teams.

The first period was hotly contested, as expected from both teams. Good chances on both sides led to a goal for each team in the first twenty minutes.

Former Montreal Canadien Eric Staal opened the scoring with a beautiful wrap-around. Review the sequence right here.

The goal was scored during a numerical disadvantage. Although the special units didn’t make much difference to these two teams, in this first game, they were a very important factor.

Following Staal’s goal, the Golden Knights returned to the power play, and this time, they had no intention of squandering such an opportunity.

Quebec’s Jonathan Marchessault leveled the score with a shot from the slot. Chandler Stephenson served the beautiful pass to Marchessault.

Marchessault is beginning to establish himself as one of the playoffs’ most valuable players. He has scored no less than 10 goals in his last 11 games.

Not bad for a player selected in the expansion draft, who was passed over by… the Panthers.

It’s worth mentioning that Florida decided to protect Nick Bjugstad in the 2017 expansion draft, rather than the Quebecer. They must blame themselves.

It was on this 1-1 scoreline that the two teams retired to the locker room after 20 minutes of play.

Adin Hill had no intention of taking it easy to start the second period. He’s made a number of very important saves in this series, but this one, ladies and gentlemen, was a gem.

This gave the Knights momentum, and they had the upper hand in the second period.

Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore thanked his goalie in the nicest possible way, putting his team ahead with a good shot from the point.

He picked a moment to score his first goal of the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Vegas, another Quebecer made his presence felt. Anthony Duclair tied the game with just 10 seconds left in the second period.

This is going to be a very exciting series to watch.

After trailing 9-7 in shots after one period, Vegas fired 14 times on net in the second period, as did the Panthers.

It was the Panthers who set the tone in the third period with several golden opportunities.

However, it was Vegas who scored the first goal of the period, when defenseman Zach Whitecloud put the Panthers back in front with a point shot.

A few minutes later, Mark Stone intercepted a loose clearance in the enclave and had no intention of missing the opportunity. He threaded the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky with ease.

However, the play was overhauled when Stone allegedly touched the puck over the legal limit. Fortunately for Bruce Cassidy’s team, the goal was allowed.

With less than 5 minutes to go in the third period, forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett had a little too much at a stoppage in play and each received a game misconduct. There was also a double minor penalty for Tkachuk, who twice bullied Nicolas Hague, giving the Knights a lengthy 4-minute power play.

During this massive attack, Paul Maurice tried his best to pull his goalie back. Unfortunately, Reilly Smith confirmed his side’s victory in an empty net.

The game ended 5-2.


Overtime

– Defenseman Radko Gudas played just over two minutes in the first period, as he left for the dressing room following an altercation between himself and Jack Eichel. However, he returned at the start of the second period.

– The Golden Knights dominated their opponents in terms of blocked shots. After two periods, it was 14-6, but it ended 16-11. Zach Whitecloud and Alex Pietrangelo stood out with 4 blocked shots each.

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