6 Reasons the Golden Knights Are Headed to the Stanley Cup Final

The Vegas Golden Knights were the Western Conference's best team in 2022-23.

Their 111 points earned them the Pacific Division's regular-season title and were better than anything mustered in the Central Division, but it still wasn't easy to find anyone suggesting they'd be the team representing the conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

Yet for the second time in six seasons, here they are.

The residents of the Nevada desert were on their heels after two straight losses to the Dallas Stars extended the Western final to a sixth game, but they responded with three goals in the first period and never looked back on the way to a 6-0 win that officially punched their tickets to a championship-round duel with the Florida Panthers.

The B/R hockey staff took a look at the factors that led to the Golden Knights, who'd already eliminated the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers, returning to the final round for the first time since a five-game loss to the Washington Capitals in 2017-18.

The series will begin Saturday and it'll end with a team hoisting the Cup for the first time.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.

William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault may not be NHL All-Stars.

But they are foundational pieces of the Golden Knights' organization,

Both have been in Vegas uniforms since Day 1 in 2017-18 and both were regulars on that inaugural team that won three playoff rounds to reach the final series with Washington.

And they're rediscovered their primetime games once again.

A bottom-six forward these days, Karlsson had 11 points in 16 playoff games before scoring twice on Monday night. He was a 43-goal scorer in the 2017-18 regular season, but has seen his role change over the years to a reliable two-way performer.

Marchessault had 21 points in that memorable first playoff run for the franchise and is its all-time leader in goals, assists and points during the regular season. He began this year's playoff run quietly and hadn't scored through the first seven games, but caught fire against the Oilers and scored the fourth goal on Monday, giving him nine goals in the last 10.

"He comes to the rink right now and he knows he's going to score," ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro said. "It is the best feeling for a goal scorer."

Feel free, Buffalo Sabres fans, to look the other way on this one.

Though hockey followers in Western New York might be smarting at how the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft essentially forced his way out of town last season, it'd be hard to argue that he's been the league's—or at least the West's—best player all postseason.

The 26-year-old had never experienced the playoffs before this season but he's seemed a natural since Game 1 of the first round, scoring six times and posting 18 points in 17 games while playing the role of both playmaker and goal scorer.

Particularly impressive was his head-to-head matchup with Connor McDavid, the No. 1 pick whom Eichel outperformed with three goals and nine points in six games against the Oilers.

For a team that had never had a No. 1 center and star, Eichel has been that man while establishing himself as the Golden Knights' frontrunner for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The Golden Knights started five goalies this season.

And as the playoffs began, they left their fortunes in the hands of journeyman Laurent Brossoit, who'd played in exactly one playoff game during his initial eight NHL years.

So when Brossoit was hurt during Game 3 against Edmonton and Vegas was forced to turn to newbie Adin Hill, it was easy to forecast a massive confidence drain.

Instead, a massive hero was born.

The 27-year-old made 24 saves to win that pivotal game, stopped 103 of 111 shots while clinching that series with two wins in the next three, and continued the run with perpetual steadiness against the Stars.

A fortunate bounce snuffed a Dallas chance early in Game 6 and Hill was rock solid from then on, stopping all 23 shots he faced to guarantee the finals berth and ensure a raise on the $2.175 million he made in the back end of a two-year deal he'd signed in 2021.

"When you have a fifth-string goalie in net and you can play the way they've played," ESPN analyst P.K. Subban said, "that's a good team and a great situation for Hill."

Mark Stone played just 43 games in the 2022-23 regular season and none after appearing for just four shifts in a January 12 defeat of the visiting Panthers.

He underwent back surgery 19 days later and it was no stretch to suggest that he'd largely been written out of the Golden Knights' subsequent plans as a result.

But he wasn't quite ready to call it a day.

Stone was activated off long-term injured reserve on April 17 and played more than 21 minutes of a first-rounder against Winnipeg the following day, then scored his first two playoff goals in a three-point night in Game 2 while providing a hugely significant emotional lift.

He'd been nearly a point-per-game player—producing 15 points in 16 games—through the initial five games against Dallas but has been equally important as a captain while helping Vegas rebound from a Game 1 loss to Winnipeg, reestablish control after going 2-2 against Edmonton and finishing the Stars after losing two straight.

"Real important piece of our team, not only on the ice but off the ice," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We didn't know how it would play out, to be perfectly honest. There were a lot of medical boxes he had to check off before he could get back in the lineup and he's been able to do that."

The Golden Knights have never won a Stanley Cup but it's not as if they don't have significant experience in championship situations.

Defensemen Alec Martinez and Alex Pietrangelo have three Stanley Cup wins between them during their days with the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues, respectively, including Martinez's title-clinching goal against the New York Rangers that ended the 2013-14 season.

They're big and tough—Martinez is 6'1" and 210 pounds, while Pietrangelo measures in at 6'3" and 215 pounds—and they've played loads of important minutes throughout the Vegas run, particularly in the six games against Edmonton in which they were continually matched up with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the Oilers' offensive juggernaut. They've also made Hill's life easier by blocking shots, the sort of gritty hockey needed to be played in playoff games.

Against Dallas, they averaged nearly 56 shifts between them through the first games and helped hold the Stars to just five goals across the four Vegas victories.

The Golden Knights had lost two straight games and were heading back to face the Dallas Stars before a raucous crowd at the American Airlines Arena in Game 6,

But Bruce Cassidy wasn't concerned.

"We're not chasing matchups tonight," he told his team before the game. "Just be better than the guy next to you."

Sixty minutes later, his cool demeanor had paid off.

The 6-0 victory that eliminated the Stars was the latest exclamation point for a coach who was hired by the Golden Knights last summer after he'd been dismissed by the Boston Bruins in spite of 51 wins in 2021-22 and six straight playoff appearances.

Vegas wanted a new voice coming off the organization's first playoff miss and the 58-year-old provided it in his third NHL job, following 110 games with Washington and 399 with the Bruins. Ironically, the Stars were coached by Peter DeBoer, whom Vegas let go to make room for Cassidy,

"His voice immediately got over in Vegas," ESPN analyst Mark Messier said. "If he had his choice of jobs he was very smart to take this one. Of all the teams that didn't make the playoffs last year and fired a coach, this was the one that had the most talent."