This was the first Finals series since 2018 in which neither team had previously won the Stanley Cup.[4] For the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Finals ran through the first weeks of June.[3]
This was the second Finals appearance for the Panthers. Their only previous appearance was in 1996, which they lost in a four-game sweep to the Colorado Avalanche.[5]
The Panthers finished with a 42–32–8 record and obtained the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with 92 points, the lowest point total of any playoff team. In the First Round, the Panthers overcame a 3–1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins, who had set the NHL season records for points and wins, and defeated them in a game 7 overtime.[16] They then eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games during the Second Round and swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.[17][18] The Panthers became the fourth eighth seed to reach the Finals, following the Edmonton Oilers in 2006, the Los Angeles Kings in 2012, and the Nashville Predators in 2017.[19]
This was Vegas' second Finals appearance. Their only previous appearance was in 2018, which they lost to the Washington Capitals in five games.[20] The Golden Knights experienced immediate success after beginning play in 2017, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season and qualifying for the playoffs in their first four. However, they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history the previous season, which led to the firing of head coach Peter DeBoer.[21]
The Golden Knights finished first in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference with 111 points via a 51–22–9 record. Vegas defeated the Winnipeg Jets in five games during the First Round,[30] triumphed over the Edmonton Oilers during the Second Round in six games,[31] and knocked off the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final in six games.[32]
Game summaries
Note: The numbers in parentheses represent each player's total goals or assists to that point of the entire playoffs.
Shea Theodore scored a goal and two points in game one.
In game one, Florida began the scoring with a shorthanded goal by Eric Staal, scored on a wrap-around attempt. Vegas tied the game on a separate power play with Chandler Stephenson setting up Jonathan Marchessault's wrist shot beating Sergei Bobrovsky.[33] In the second period, Shea Theodore's long range shot found its way past Bobrovsky, giving Vegas a 2–1 lead. With ten seconds remaining and a faceoff in the Golden Knights zone, the Panther's Anthony Duclair picked up a loose puck and fired a wrist shot past Hill to make it 2–2. In the third period, the Golden Knights led a rush into the Panther's zone with a shot by Ivan Barbashev deflecting back to Zach Whitecloud who scored for Vegas to make it 3–2. Later in the period, Matthew Tkachuk's clearing attempt was knocked down by Vegas captain Mark Stone, who shot it past Bobrovsky for a 4–2 lead. Florida challenged the play as Stone's stick could have been above his shoulders, which would have been a stoppage of play. Florida was unsuccessful in their challenge and assessed a minor penalty.[34] With frustrations boiling over for Florida, both Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett were called for misconducts for attempting to fight some of the Golden Knights.[35]Reilly Smith then sealed Vegas' victory with an empty net goal to make it 5–2. The victory broke Florida's road-winning streak at eight games.[36]
Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals, including one on the power play, and three points in game two.
In the first period of game two, the Golden Knights scored first on the power play as Jonathan Marchessault shot through a screen to beat the Florida goaltender over the shoulder. Later in the period, with Vegas in possession in the Florida zone, Alec Martinez shot past Josh Mahura's block attempt and the puck went to the top of the net for a 2–0 lead.[38] During the second period, Nicolas Roy gave Vegas a 3–0 lead, shooting the puck under Sergei Bobrovsky's blocker.[39]Brett Howden then forced Florida to swap Bobrovsky for backup Alex Lyon, scoring forehand-backhand on Vegas' thirteenth shot.[40] Following a hit on Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and Ivan Barbashev both exchanged misconduct penalties for fighting after the whistle.[41] In the third period, the Panthers ended Adin Hill's shutout bid as Anton Lundell scored just 14 seconds in. Vegas regained their four-goal lead as an all-alone Marchessault received a pass from Mark Stone and wristed a shot past Lyon.[42]Michael Amadio then provided the sixth goal for Vegas, beating Lyon for a 6–1 lead.[43] Tkachuk then brought the lead back down to four as his first goal of the series beat Hill. Later in the period, with Florida releasing their frustration, Vegas gained a power play.[44] During the power play, Howden's second goal of the game ended any hopes of a Florida comeback, scoring to give Vegas a 7–2 lead, also the final score of the game.[45][46]
Matthew Tkachuk (left), shown with Calgary, scored the game-tying goal, while Carter Verhaeghe (right) scored the overtime winner in game three.
Back in Florida for game three, Brandon Montour began the scoring for the Panthers in the first period as his shot from the left circle beat Adin Hill. Vegas was able to tie the game during a 4-on-3 power play when Jonathan Marchessault's shot got tipped in by Mark Stone. In the second period, Vegas gained another power play, during which Jack Eichel passed across to Marchessault who shot past Sergei Bobrovsky into the top-left corner for a 2–1 Golden Knights lead. In the third period, with the Florida goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, Matthew Tkachuk scored on a rebound from Carter Verhaeghe to tie the game 2–2. With the game in overtime, Verhaeghe fired a wrist shot past Hill giving Florida a 3–2 victory and their first win in the Stanley Cup Finals in franchise history.[48]
In game four, Vegas began the scoring 1:39 into the first period as Zach Whitecloud made a cross-ice pass to Chandler Stephenson, who maneuvered through all Florida defenders and shot the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky.[50] Stephenson continued his scoring into the second period as a pass by Mark Stone found its way to the forward whose one-timer beat Bobrovsky for a 2–0 Vegas lead. Following soon after, William Karlsson picked up Nicolas Hague's rebound shot and gave the Golden Knights a 3–0 lead. With less than four minutes remaining in the period, Florida defenceman Brandon Montour shot the puck at the net and it deflected off Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore past Adin Hill to cut Vegas' lead to two goals. Florida then cut their deficit to one goal as the Panthers rushed into the Vegas zone, Montour backhanded a pass to captain Aleksander Barkov whose fired past Hill from the right circle. Vegas maintained their 3–2 lead, including fending off a power play with 17.4 seconds left, as Hill stopped 29 of 31 shots to give the Golden Knights a 3–1 series lead.[51]
Mark Stone (left) scored a hat trick, while Reilly Smith (right) scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in game five.
In game five, the Golden Knights began the scoring on a shorthanded rush as Mark Stone outwaited Sergei Bobrovsky to beat him on the glove side.[53] The Golden Knights doubled their lead as Jack Eichel's shot bumped over Bobrovsky's shoulder and got covered, but was quickly poked away. With the free puck, Nicolas Hague scored for Vegas.[54] The Panthers made it 2–1 early in the second period as Nick Cousins forced a turnover in the Vegas defensive zone and passed it to defenceman Aaron Ekblad whose long range shot made its way into the net.[55] The Golden Knights recovered their two-goal lead as a stretch pass by Alex Pietrangelo made its way to Eichel who then dropped a pass to Alec Martinez and he shot it past Bobrovsky.[56]Reilly Smith soon gave the Golden Knights a 4–1 lead as he fired in a between-the-legs pass from William Karlsson. Stone's second goal made it 5–1 as a Chandler Stephenson-led rush led to a cross-ice pass from Brett Howden, which Stone then shot between Bobrovsky's pads for his second goal of the game.[57]Michael Amadio extended the Golden Knights lead to 6–1 with two seconds remaining; after pushing the puck towards the Panthers goaltender and being pushed himself into the net by a Panther defenceman, the puck found its way under Bobrovsky and in.[58] In the third period, Vegas made the game a rout, with Ivan Barbashev scoring Vegas' seventh goal of the game. Florida brought their deficit down to five when a quick shot by Sam Reinhart hit the top corner past Adin Hill.[59]Sam Bennett then dropped Florida's deficit to four goals as his long range shot was deflected into the net.[60] With approximately six minutes remaining in the game, Florida head coach Paul Maurice opted to go for an empty net.[61] However, Stone scored on the empty net to complete his hat trick, making it 8–3. His hat trick, the 40th to occur in the Stanley Cup Finals,[62] was the first since 1996, which was also against the Panthers,[63] and the first to occur in a Cup-winning game since 1922.[64]Nicolas Roy potted Vegas' ninth goal of the evening with 1:02 remaining to seal the Golden Knights victory and their first Stanley Cup.[65] Vegas' nine goals set a new record for goals scored in a Cup-clinching game, surpassing the 8–0 score by which the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched the title in 1991,[66] and tied the record for most goals by a team in a Finals game, previously set by the Detroit Red Wings in 1936 and later matched by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942.[67][68]
Meanwhile, the Panthers were one of two South Florida teams to lose major championships within two days, as the Miami Heat also lost the 2023 NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets one day prior.[75]
Misha Donskov (Asst. Coach), Dave Rogowski (Video Coach), Kyle Moore (Associate Head Athletic Trainer), Mike Muir (Assistant Athletic Trainer)
Raul Dorantes (Manual Therapist), Doug Davidson (Strength and Conditioning Coach), Aaron Heishman (Head of Sport Science and Reconditioning)
Chris Davidson-Adams (Head Equipment Manager), J.W. Aiken (Assistant Equipment Manager), Rick Braunstein (Director of Team Services)
Katy Headman Boettinger (Director of Hockey Administration), Vaughn Karpan (Director of Player Personnel), Bob Lowes (Assistant Director of Player Personnel)
Scott Luce (Director of Amateur Scouting), Andrew Lugerner (Director of Hockey Legal Affairs), Wil Nichol (Director of Player Development), Tom Poraszka (Director of Hockey Operations)
Engraving notes
#49 Ivan Barbashev (C/LW) - played 82 regular-season games (59 with the St. Louis Blues and 23 with the Golden Knights), plus all 22 playoff games. He qualified to have his name engraved for playing in the Stanley Cup Finals.
#8 Phil Kessel (RW) - played all 82 regular-season games and 4 playoff games (all in the first round). He qualified to have his name engraved for playing in half of Vegas’ regular-season games.
#53 Teddy Blueger (C) - played 63 regular-season games (45 with the Pittsburgh Penguins and 18 with the Golden Knights), plus 6 playoff games (2 in the second round, 4 in the Western Conference final). As he did not automatically qualify for engraving, Vegas requested an exemption to include him on the Cup.
#43 Paul Cotter (LW) - played 55 regular-season games, but no playoff games. He qualified to have his name engraved for playing in half of Vegas' regular season games.
#32 Jonathan Quick (G) - played 41 regular-season games (31 with the Los Angeles Kings and 10 with the Golden Knights), and dressed for 15 playoff games as the backup goaltender (1 in the first round, 3 in the second round, and the entire Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals). He qualified to have his name engraved for dressing in the Stanley Cup Finals.
#36 Logan Thompson (G) - played 37 regular-season games and dressed in 55 regular season games total, but missed the entirety of the playoffs due to injury. He qualified to have his name engraved for dressing in half of Vegas' regular season games.
#33 Adin Hill (G) - played 21 regular-season games and 16 playoff games, including the entirety of the Stanley Cup Finals. He qualified to have his name engraved for playing in the Stanley Cup Finals.
#17 Ben Hutton (D) - played 31 regular-season games and 2 playoff games (1 each in the first and second round). As he did not automatically qualify for engraving, Vegas requested an exemption to include him on the Cup.
#39 Laurent Brossoit (G) - played 11 regular-season games and 8 playoff games (5 in the first round, 3 in the second round) before missing the remainder of the playoffs due to injury. As he did not automatically qualify for engraving, Vegas requested an exemption to include him on the Cup.
#94 Brayden Pachal (D) - played 10 regular-season games and one playoff game in the first round. As he did not automatically qualify for engraving, Vegas requested an exemption to include him on the Cup.
#90 Robin Lehner (G) and #41 Nolan Patrick (C) - both missed the entirety of the 2022–23 season due to injury. Neither qualified to be engraved, and Vegas did not request exemptions from the league.
These players were on the extended roster during the playoffs, with some having played regular-season games for Vegas. None appeared in the playoffs. They will receive championship rings, but were left off the Stanley Cup engraving.[92][93]
#24 Brendan Brisson (C) - 0 regular-season games, 58 with Henderson of the AHL
#11 Ivan Morozov (C) - 0 regular-season games, 58 with Henderson of the AHL
#5 Daniil Chayka (D) - 0 regular-season games, 57 with Henderson of the AHL
#31 Isaiah Saville (G) - 0 regular-season games, 10 with Henderson of the AHL
Media rights
For the first time since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began, both the Cup Finals and the NBA Finals roughly coincided during the first weeks of June.[3][94] As with prior years since at least 2016 when both leagues hold their respective championship series at roughly the same time, games of the Cup Finals are scheduled on different days than those of the 2023 NBA Finals, typically on the day prior to or after the other league's games.[95]
^"Chandler Stephenson Bio". NHL.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2024. Retrieved July 7, 2023. [Stephenson] lifted the Cup on the same ice he did with the Capitals five years earlier, becoming the 10th player in NHL history to help defeat a team in the Final and later win the Stanley Cup with them. He is the third to achieve the feat in the NHL expansion era (since 1967-68), following Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim Ducks) and Billy Carroll (Edmonton Oilers).
^"Extra off days in NBA, NHL finals". sportingnews.com. Sporting News Holding Limited. October 19, 2021. Archived from the original on April 27, 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
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