In their first Stanley Cup Final in five years, and in just their 6th year of existence, the Vegas Golden Knights sent a message to the Florida Panthers.
After what was an even game after two periods, the Golden Knights rallied behind a three-goal third period for a 5-2 victory to draw first blood in the Stanley Cup Final.
The game was also highlighted with Adin Hill making quite possibly the save of the playoffs!
As Matthew Tkachuk set up Nick Cousins, who was waiting at the slot for the puck, Hill made a diving stick save to absolutely stonewall Cousins early in the second period!
To go back in history, Vegas was on the other end of a sprawling stick save when Alex Tuch got robbed by Braden Holtby in Game 2 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, and now they are on the right side of a sprawling stick save!
His 33 saves stood out in a very feisty opening Finals game.
Even though Sergei Bobrovsky, who finished with 29 saves, made some great stops of his own, the interesting part is that neither of Hill nor Bobrovsky were the day 1 starter of the postseason, and they are starting for their teams in the Stanley Cup Final opener.
It is the second time this has happened EVER. The only other time? 1969, when Rogie Vachon and Jacques Plante started Game 1 of that year's Finals after originally being the backups to Gump Worsley and Glenn Hall for the Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues, respectively.
And since Hill is a pending free agent this offseason, he is going to get a big pay raise in the offseason given that he has shown up consistently ever since he came in relief of an injured Laurent Brossoit.
One thing should be noted: Vegas had seven power plays in this game. While they haven't been the best team in the postseason special teams-wise, if they keep getting chances like these, they would be bound to strike.
And they delivered on the man advantage twice. While the second one was technically on an empty net with Florida trying to score twice to force overtime, the first one had no such asterisk.
But it wasn't the best of starts on the man advantage.
Eric Staal opened up enough from Hill to score the first goal of the Finals shorthanded on a wraparound after a nice setup from Anton Lundell.
It was just the third time that the opening goal of the Finals was a shorthanded goal, after Bucko McDonald and Kirk Maltby scored for the Detroit Red Wings in 1936 and 1997, respectively.
It's also the first goal for Staal in the Finals in 17 years, the longest span between goals in Finals history, having last scored on June 14th, 2006, for the Carolina Hurricanes.
But with this Vegas team, one bad sequence on special teams doesn’t deter them.
Jonathan Marchessault made sure of that, off a beautiful setup behind the net from Chandler Stephenson on their next man advantage opportunity to tie the game late in the first period and increase his point streak to six games.
He is one of six original Golden Misfits still on the roster, alongside Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, and William Carrier. Technically you could count Zach Whitecloud, even though he played one regular season game for them in Vegas' inaugural season.
Speaking of the Golden Misfits, it was Theodore scoring the next goal for Vegas, and it was a beauty. His first goal of the postseason came from the high slot after doing a spin-o-rama on Anthony Duclair, cuts in, and rips one top right corner!
Bruce Cassidy said that Florida looked like they were defending Vegas well. But then Theodore moved into the sweet spot, along with a good screen from Brett Howden, who took away Bobrovsky's eyes to get Vegas the first lead of the game!
Duclair, however, was undeterred by this, as he answered with a goal of his own off a faceoff win by Sasha Barkov with 10.2 seconds in the second left after Florida had two great looks from Barkov and Brandon Montour that rang off the bar, but Duclair made sure that third time is the charm to tie the game at 2!
Then the third period came along, and it was Whitecloud who got the go-ahead goal, receiving the feed from Ivan Barbashev, who was stopped by Bobrovsky before the goal, while Marchessault was cutting to the net as soon as the shot went off Whitecloud's stick.
After a crucial penalty kill, it was Mark Stone who found the back of the net after knocking down Tkachuk's clearing attempt, and fired it glove side from the slot to get Vegas up by two, which stood after a failed challenge from Paul Maurice and the Panthers.
And last, it was Smith sealing the deal with the empty net power play goal after Hill denied Sam Reinhart on a breakaway 22 seconds before the goal.
The Knights withstood the Panthers' best punches throughout the game. Literally and offensively.
One particular exchange was Cousins getting tag-teamed by Stephenson and Nic Hague on a hit towards the boards, which could have easily been a boarding penalty.
There was a lot of pushing and shoving in this match, including Tkachuk trying to get Alex Pietrangelo to a fight.
All of Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Chandler Stephenson were informally ejected with 4:24 to go in the game after a big, ugly scrap, and these scraps could be a preview of a series that could be decided by which team can master their game more while not being reckless.
Tkachuk's entire line was held off the score sheet, and surprisingly, they were not matched up against Stone's line or Karlsson's line.
Cassidy decided to get the fourth line of Carrier, Nic Roy and Keegan Kolesar, and even though they don't have a nickname, they have earned the bench boss' trust in key situations, bending but not breaking, checking hard on the tough situations, and getting the energy through the shifts early in the game.
In postseasons, there are fourth lines that are some of the most reliable lines in the playoffs, like the Grind Line for the Red Wings, the Crash Line for the 1995 New Jersey Devils, though Vegas' fourth line is coming up huge for them.
Game 2 of this series will be on June 5th at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT. John Ott and Cooper Hopkins will have the coverage for you on Twitter Spaces, please give them a follow @JohnRyanOtt and @CooperHopkins!
Penalty Counts
The Golden Knights averaged 7.18 penalty minutes in the regular season, while the Panthers averaged 12.17 there. Those numbers increased to 14.8 and 14.65, respectively, in the postseason.
A New Champion
For the first time since Vegas faced the Washington Capitals in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, and the third time in the 21st century, a Stanley Cup Final matchup will guarantee a first-time champion.
A Long Time Coming
Bobrovsky played 709 games (regular season and postseason) before making his Stanley Cup Final debut. That's the third-most in NHL history, behind Roberto Luongo (725) and Carey Price (793)!
Scoring
FLA, 9:40 1st: Eric Staal [2] (Anton Lundell [7]), SH, wraparound, 1-0 FLA
VGK, 17:18 1st: Jonathan Marchessault [10] (Chandler Stephenson [7] & Shea Theodore [8]), PP, snap shot, 1-1 TIE
VGK, 10:54 2nd: Shea Theodore [1] (Brayden McNabb [3] & Brett Howden [4]), EV, wrist shot, 2-1 VGK
FLA, 19:49 2nd: Anthony Duclair [4] (Unassisted), EV, wrist shot, 2-2 TIE
VGK, 6:59 3rd: Zach Whitecloud [2] (Ivan Barbashev [10] & Jack Eichel [13]), EV, wrist shot, 3-2 VGK
VGK, 13:41 3rd: Mark Stone [7] (Unassisted), EV, wrist shot, 4-2 VGK
VGK, 18:15 3rd: Reilly Smith [3] (Jack Eichel [14]), PP-EN, wrist shot, 5-2 VGK
Goaltending
VGK: Adin Hill—33/35, .943 save percentage
FLA: Sergei Bobrovsky—29/33, .879 save percentage
Penalties
FLA, 8:30 1st: Nick Cousins 2-minute minor, roughing Adin Hill
VGK, 11:42 1st: William Carrier 2-minute minor, roughing Matthew Tkachuk
FLA, 16:27 1st: Josh Mahura 2-minute minor, interference on William Karlsson
FLA, 3:28 2nd: Josh Mahura 2-minute minor, tripping Keegan Kolesar
VGK, 14:40 2nd: Shea Theodore 2-minute minor, hooking Brandon Montour
VGK, 7:12 3rd: Nic Roy 2-minute minor, hooking Sam Reinhart
FLA, 10:04 3rd: Eric Staal 2-minute minor, cross-checking Ivan Barbashev
FLA, 13:41 3rd: Bench 2-minute minor, delay of game for unsuccessful challenge served by Zac Dalpe
FLA, 15:36 3rd: Matthew Tkachuk 4-minute double minor, roughing Nic Hague served by Nick Cousins
FLA, 15:36 3rd: Matthew Tkachuk 10-minute misconduct (ejected)
FLA, 15:36 3rd: Sam Bennett 2-minute minor, roughing Nic Hague
FLA, 15:36 3rd: Sam Bennett 10-minute misconduct (ejected)
VGK, 15:36 3rd: Chandler Stephenson 2-minute minor, roughing Sam Bennett
VGK, 15:36 3rd: Chandler Stephenson 10-minute misconduct (ejected)
FLA, 18:15 3rd: Radko Gudas 10-minute misconduct (ejected)
Team Stats
Shots: VGK 34, FLA 35
Faceoffs: VGK 39, FLA 35 (VGK 52.7% faceoff win percentage)
Power Play: VGK 2/7 (11 shots), FLA 0/3 (3 shots)
PIM: VGK 18, FLA 46
Hits: VGK 29, FLA 36
Blocks: VGK 16, FLA 11
Giveaways: VGK 14, FLA 13
Takeaways: VGK 14, FLA 7
Three Stars
Third Star: Adin Hill
Second Star: Mark Stone
First Star: Zach Whitecloud
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