The Vegas Golden Knights captured the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Here's how the did it and what fans should take away.
Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley spoke it into existence in Year 1 of the franchise. "Playoffs in three. Cup in six," he said back in 2017.
The 2022-23 season was year six. On Tuesday, the Golden Knights became the fastest NHL expansion team to win the Stanley Cup. They defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 at T-Mobile Arena in Game 5.
Mark Stone recorded a hat trick, and Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the playoffs, collecting 13 goals and 25 points in 22 games.
But what paved the way to Vegas' historic Cup victory, and what should we take away from the Stanley Cup Final? Let's take a look.
Vegas Golden Knights: Takeaways from winning first-ever Stanley Cup
Jonathan Marchessault wins the Conn Smythe
Jonathan Marchessault has finally achieved his dream of winning the Stanley Cup. He also added the Conn Smythe Trophy to his accomplishments. Despite being undersized, undrafted, and underappreciated, Marchessault rose and made many big plays during the postseason. It was particularly satisfying for him because the Panthers had exposed him in the 2017 expansion draft. In previous years, Marchessault had to watch his childhood friends from Quebec City win the Cup. But now it's his turn.
When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that Marchessault had won the Conn Smythe Award, he hugged his linemate, Jack Eichel, telling him that he was the reason for his win.
"You did it for me," he said.
Eichel scored 26 points in the playoffs, one more than Marchessault.
Marchessault, who went the first seven games of the playoffs without a goal, scored 13 goals in his final 15 games and ended the playoffs on a 10-game point streak.
Marchessault has become the first undrafted player to win the Conn Smythe since Wayne Gretzky in 1988. Although 10 undrafted players have won the award, just six debuted after the first NHL amateur draft in 1963. However, Marchessault is the first true undrafted player to receive the award. Gretzky was not drafted into the NHL because he had signed as a teenager in the WHA and was protected by the Edmonton Oilers when the leagues merged.
The other undrafted players won the award during an era when NHL teams had saved lists and were associated with junior teams across Canada. The most highly regarded young players were signed to "C" forms, making them the property of NHL clubs for their entire careers, starting as early as age 14 with parental consent.
Marchessault has played in all 88 of Vegas' playoff games since its inaugural 2018 postseason. He's the franchise's all-time leader with 34 goals, 71 points, 26 even-strength goals, 54 even-strength points, 300 shots, and eight power-play goals.
David Perron watched the Stanley Cup game while driving back to Detroit and pulled over to see his friend Jonathan Marchessault accept the Conn Smythe Trophy. Fellow players Yanni Gourde and David Savard watched from their homes. Marchessault attended both of their Stanley Cup parties in 2021. Now he can make one himself.
Marchessault called his fellow Cup-champion pals "winners."
"Something you can never take away from those guys," he told the Athletic (subscription required). "And now, all of us, the Golden Knights, we're all winners. This is the best feeling in the world."
"He's had to overcome a lot of things," Perron said. "If you look at his career path to make it to the NHL, playing as a 20-year-old and major junior, which usually those guys don't end up having the career that he's got. He doesn't get fazed by the big moments. If anything, he stays extremely calm and poised under pressure in those moments."
Like Gourde and Savard, Perron can't wait to attend Marchessault's Cup-winning party this summer.
Captain Mark Stone set the tone and delivered for the Vegas Golden Knights
Stone scored a shorthanded goal for Vegas, opening the scoring in Game 5 and setting a tone in what would become a blowout victory.
The Golden Knights doubled their lead thanks to Nicolas Hague, who scored less than two minutes after Stone started his big night. Bobrovsky stopped Eichel. But Hague knocked in the loose puck.
After an Aaron Ekblad tally pulled Florida within 2-1, Alec Martinez restored the momentum for Vegas. Eichel forced a Florida turnover and fed Martinez on the rush for the goal.
Less than two minutes later, Reilly Smith made it 4-1, and the rout was on. The tally was personally sweet for Smith. The Panthers gave Vegas the center and a fourth-round pick in 2017, so they would take Marchessault in the 2017 expansion draft. Now, he made them pay.
From there, the story was Vegas' captain.
Stone's exceptional on-ice skills were evident as he patiently waited for Sergei Bobrovsky to move back towards his goal line before taking a quick snapshot, accurately hitting the top corner of the net for his opening tally. But he also displayed his powerful slapshot. He blasted Brett Howden's one-time feed into the net, extending the Knights' lead to 5-1.
Michael Amadio poked home a rebound to cap the four-goal second period, putting the game out of reach.
It made for an early celebration in the stands. But the players stayed in the moment.
Ivan Barbashev cleaned up a Jack Eichel rebound to make it 7-1.
Then, after Florida scored twice to pull within 7-3, Bobrovsky went to the bench for an extra attacker. That's when Stone made history. His empty-net goal completed the first hat trick in the Stanley Cup Final since Colorado's Peter Forsberg in 1996, also against the Panthers.
Nicolas Roy then made it 9-3 before the party officially began.
As the captain, Stone got to hoist the Stanley Cup first.
Full circle for the Golden Misfits
In many ways, things came full circle for these Golden Knights. It did for the "Golden Misfits", which refers to the players who have been in Vegas since the team's inception. In what he called a "Great Gesture," Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy started Vegas' 2017-18 first line of Reilly Smith-William Karlsson-Jonathan Marchessault with Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez. Brayden Mcnabb played but didn't make the cut since he wasn't a goaltender.
For Cassidy, Wednesday marks his first anniversary of joining Vegas after being fired by the Boston Bruins. Stone had two back surgeries and missed 39 games in the regular season. Then, he scored eleven goals and had 24 points in 22 games, becoming the first Vegas captain to win a cup. Jack Eichel wasn't allowed to receive surgery on his neck and was dealt to Vegas by the Buffalo Sabres. The Golden Knights allowed him to get the surgery and were rewarded. Eichel became a two-way hockey star, led the league in playoff points and is now a Cup champion.
For Alec Martinez, he missed 53 games in the 2021-2022 season after a skate sliced his face open. Now, he's a cup Champion for the third time. He's won all of them with Jonathan Quick, who Martinez handed off the Cup too. After spending the first 17 years of his NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings, Quick was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the trade deadline. Columbus then flipped him to Vegas.
The 37-year-old served as Adin Hill's backup. He mentored the 27-year-old netminder, who was in the playoffs for the first time. Hill brings this Knights tale full circle. The goalie mobbed at the final buzzer was their backbone. He stepped in as the team's fifth-string goaltender. He went 11-4 with a 2.17 Goals Against Average, a .932 save percentage, and a +7.7 Goals Saved Above Expected.
He topped his brilliant postseason with 31 saves on 34 shots in Game 5 and is now king of the Hill.
"If you ask any player in the NHL who's ever won a Cup, I guarantee you, besides having kids and getting married, it's one of the top moments of their life," Hill said. "In my career, as a child growing up, you face adversity. You get cut from teams or don't make the team you wanted to. Everybody's got bumps in the road. It's just a matter of sticking to the plan. To not change your course of action."
Florida Panthers and the injury bug (Matthew Tkachuk specifically)
Matthew Tkachuk wouldn't have made a difference in Game 5. But he could've helped. The center suffered a broken sternum during Game 3 against Vegas. He played through the pain. He scored the game-tying goal in the final minutes to force overtime. He played in game 4. But it ultimately became too risky, which is saying something.
"The next day after the full game that he played off it…he didn't dress for the game," Florida head coach Paul Maurice said, via The Hockey News. "Somebody helped him get his gear on; somebody tied his skates. Somebody put his sweater on for him.
"But the next day, when he came in, he was in significant pain, so it wasn't really a question whether they be able to play or not."
Aaron Ekblad broke his foot during the first round against Boston. Ekblad also played through a torn oblique muscle and dislocated his shoulder twice.
"There's no stopping now, no stopping here," Ekblad said, via The Hockey News. "It's a bump in the road, and it stings now. We'll find a way to come back next year and be stronger because of it. How could you not go through what we went through this year?"
Sam Bennett hurt his shoulder twice. Radko Gudas was dealing with a high ankle sprain which would sideline other athletes for 4-6 weeks. But he played through it. Brandon Montour played with a torn labrum in his shoulder. According to Maurice, multiple players experienced bone fractures during the playoffs. Some will miss the start of next season.
"We had four broken bones, we've got three shoulders that are going to have to get taken care of, we've got oblique tears," he said. "It's not an excuse. We don't need one. These guys earned the right. They gave everything they had."