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Vegas is Stanley Cup champion

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Vegas is Stanley Cup champion
After just six seasons in the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights have officially been crowned Stanley Cup champions. Having entered the Bettman circuit in 2017-2018, the Knights are the fastest expansion team to win the title in league history.

The Flyers (7 years) held the record in the 1970s.

They’re also arguably the best young expansion team in history, and have certainly been among the NHL’s elite since the day they set foot on the ice, being quite simply one of the top two or three teams.

  • Final defeat in 2018
  • First-round loss in 2019
  • Loss in the conference final in 2020
  • Loss in the conference final in 2021
  • Excluded from the playoffs in 2022
  • Stanley Cup champions in 2023
The Golden Knights are the first team since the Rangers in 1994 to win the Cup in the year following a playoff exit.

The Hurricanes, in 2006, technically didn’t make the playoffs in their lockout year.

As for Game 5 of the final, the Panthers were never in the game, and didn’t count on the services of injured Matthew Tkachuk. The team leader watched helplessly from the stands as his team lost the Stanley Cup.


Highlights

Mark Stone and Nic Hague split the Panthers’ legs in the first period.

Early in the second, Aaron Ekblad brought his team back into the game with a lead from the point, cutting the deficit to one goal.

The breath of relief was short-lived, however, as Alec Martinez, a Stanley Cup final game regular, scored his team’s third goal, which could have been the winning goal. Martinez would become the seventh player in history to score two Cup-winning goals in his career, following Toe Blake, Bobby Orr, Henri Richard, Jean Béliveau, Jacques Lemaire and Mike Bossy.

Reilly Smith scores for 4, Mark Stone scores his fifth, and the Knights never look back.

Michael Amadio and Ivan Barbashev scored the sixth and seventh goals of the game.

Mark Stone completed his hat trick in an empty net.


Overtime

– A fine moment for Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, Shea Theodore, William Karlsson and William Carrier, who were part of the inaugural Vegas team. They endured a tough loss to the Capitals, and came back in resilient fashion to lift the trophy.

– Crazy.

– The curse is real.

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