The Vegas Golden Knights, in just their sixth NHL season, defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 Tuesday night in Las Vegas to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in five games.
Vegas captain Mark Stone had a goal in each period to lead the Golden Knights, who joined the NHL before the 2017-2018 season.
The 31-year-old Stone becomes the first player since 1922 to net a hat-trick in a Stanley Cup-clinching victory, according to the NHL.
"I can't even describe the feelings in my stomach right now," said Stone, who received the Stanley Cup from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. "It's everything you can imagine. The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds, you grind and you grind and you grind and at the end of the day you're the last team standing. It's incredible."
The greatest show in Las Vegas Tuesday night wasn't along the famed Strip – it was the National Hockey League franchise Golden Knights laying claim to the Stanley Cup championship in a game 5 win over the Florida Panthers. In so doing, the team set off celebrations befitting its host city.
The Knights got the rest of their scoring from Nic Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy. Martinez’s goal in the second period came nine years to the day after he delivered the double-overtime goal in Game 5 to give the Los Angeles Kings’ the cup.
The Knights won the best-of-seven series by winning Tuesday's game 9-3, thanks to a hat trick from captain Mark Stone, three assists from center Jack Eichel and 31 saves from goaltender Adin Hill.
The championship came just six years after the Golden Knights began play in the NHL in 2017, and five years after the team made the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season of 2017-18. It was the fastest move by an expansion team to win a title among the big four professional sports in the U.S. – football, basketball, baseball and hockey – since the Arizona Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001, ESPN reported.
The title set off widespread celebrations. A'ja Wilson of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces gave a shoutout by tweeting "GET YOU ONE @GoldenKnights!!!"
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