Before the first puck drop of the Stanley Cup Finals, we knew that a new franchise would be getting its name etched onto the massive trophy.
After four convincing wins in five games, that franchise is the Vegas Golden Knights.
The raucous T-Mobile Arena crowd was ready to see its team get the Stanley Cup after a mere six seasons of play, but they perhaps didn’t expect to see a 12-goal game, let alone a six-goal blowout.
At the time of writing (around 2 am PDT), the party is certainly still raging on in Las Vegas, so even before the dust has settled, let’s have a look back at the 2023 Stanley Cup.
A Win Emblematic of Vegas’ Brief History
Having made it to the Stanley Cup Finals at the first time of asking in the 2017/18 season, many wrote off the expansion-draft-funded team as a fluke.
Over the ensuing years, strong leadership on the ice and in the front office with some opportunistic plays and a focus on a solid team dynamic have cemented the Golden Knights among the top teams of the Western Conference.
Fittingly, coach Bruce Cassidy started five of the six skaters who were there in the 2018 Finals, with the sixth member of that group coming on for the next shift.
Upholding a mentality of strong teamwork, line depth, and hard work regardless of the score, it was only halfway through the first that Mark Stone broke away to seal a short-handed goal in Game 5.
That would commence an avalanche only briefly scuppered by Aaron Ekblad’s early second period goal. By the end of that middle stanza, the Golden Knights were out of sight at 6-1.
For good measure, even with the Panthers going all-in to get a couple in the third frame, Stone and Nicolas Roy would answer to win the period and end the game 9-3 – a six-goal buffer emblematic of their six-year history.
Matthew Tkachuk was unable to play, but it doesn’t seem likely that even he would have offered enough of a boost to the exhausted Panthers to stop Vegas in Game 5. They were simply relentless.
Stone, who was traded to the Golden Knights at the deadline of the 2018/19 season, has had to battle through injuries and multiple surgeries over the last couple of seasons but managed to net a hat-trick as team captain in the final game.
Making his tally 11 goals and 24 points in 22 playoff games this season, the triple put him in a mightily exclusive club of players to score a hat-trick in the Cup-clinching game.
The other two were Jack Darragh in 1920 for Ottawa and Babe Dye for Toronto in 1922. As for Finals hat-tricks, his becomes the first since 1996, joining a list of 31 others, which includes ones from Wayne Gretzky and Maurice Richard.
HOME MEANS NEVADA FOR LORD STANLEY’S CUP!!!! #UKnightTheRealm pic.twitter.com/cFC6Rr4scG
— z - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) June 14, 2023
2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Tops and Flops
While they crumbled in the Finals, the Florida Panthers did themselves proud. Entering as the WC2, the Sunrise team got the better of the seemingly unbeatable Boston Bruins over seven games, going on to crush the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 and 4-0.
It was also good to see the Maple Leafs finally experience playoff hockey beyond the opening round, but perhaps more impressively, the Seattle Kraken surged to WC1 and topped the sport betting second-favourites, the Colorado Avalanche, in seven games.
The Kraken – still only a couple of years old – also took the mightily strong defensive team of the Dallas Stars to Game 7, only losing by a single goal in that decisive rumble.
Naturally, that leaves the 2022 champions and the Boston Bruins as the biggest flops of the postseason. That said, the New York Rangers looked to have compiled an exemplary roster of high-calibre scorers, but were undone in the opening round.
THE PANTHERS STUN THE BRUINS IN OT OF GAME 7 🚨 pic.twitter.com/tqILRzCYSL
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 1, 2023
Marchessault Claims the 2023 Conn Smythe
He didn’t finish the playoffs as the team’s top point scorer (Jack Eichel pipped him by one), but Jonathan Marchessault’s 13 goals and 25 points were certainly impactful once he hit that top gear.
From 80 shots on goal, Marchessault put up a 17.57 shooting percentage, scored three game-winning goals, and ten of his total came away from the powerplay.
Coming into the Stanley Cup Finals, Marchessault was seen as one of the frontrunners for the Conn Smythe Trophy, and he didn’t disappoint.
His old team couldn’t keep him out of the stats box in any of the five games, with Marchessault scoring four goals and four assists in the Stanley Cup Finals. Perhaps the only disappointment is that he only got one assist in Game 5.
Funnily enough, the Panthers were the ones to give Marchessault his first full season, in which he scored 30 goals and 51 points in 75 games to become their first 30-goal player since 2009.
For some reason, Florida left him exposed in the ensuing 2017 Expansion Draft, letting one of the most impactful and cost-effective players of the season before join Vegas for nothing. He certainly wasn’t a flash in the pan.
YOUR 2023 CONN SMYTHE TROPHY WINNER IS JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT!!!!!! 📣 pic.twitter.com/HnQIA5YIk9
— z - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) June 14, 2023
Story of the Stanley Cup Finals: Special Teams and Penalties
The Panthers did well with their rough-and-tumble play throughout the playoffs, going in hard to stifle the better hockey teams, draw them into physical contests, and ground down their Eastern Conference foes.
In the Finals, though, while Vegas certainly through some weight around, they were much more cautious not to get drawn into Florida’s game, kept a level head – for the most part – and stayed the course.
It was clear that the style of play had taken a toll on the Panthers players, with their momentum to continue playing in such a way falling off a cliff with so few powerplay opportunities coming their way.
By the end of Game 5, the Panthers still hadn’t scored a powerplay goal in the Finals. The Golden Knights were resolute, kept it clean(ish), and held firm in the 14 spells on the penalty kill.
Will the Panthers and Golden Knights Return Next Season?
In the early NHL betting, only one team stands as the clear-cut favourite to take back the Stanley Cup; the Avs sit way ahead at +750, while the Buds are the next-best at +1100.
There’s a lot of offseason to run through yet, so the odds for the Edmonton Oilers (+1200), Tampa Bay Lightning (+1300), New Jersey Devils (+1300), and Golden Knights (+1300) will swing as rosters are confirmed.
Still, both the Golden Knights and Panthers (+1700) look to return with much of the same next season. Neither enters the summer with any major pressing UFAs (bar Adin Hill for VGK) and will have a good bit of cap space to play with in the free agency.
That said, the Panthers are at a disadvantage in this matchup regarding bartering strength, being without their next three first-round picks, while Vegas has kept all of their ones.
The 2022/23 season has crowned a brand new Stanley Cup champion, and while the Golden Knights party away the next few days – or weeks – the eyes of the league now turn to the NHL Draft on July 7.
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to AP Photo*
