Golden Knights rout Panthers to win first Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup can now call Las Vegas home.
The Vegas Golden Knights won their first ever Stanley Cup on Tuesday night with a dominant 9-3 win victory over the Florida Panthers to win the series 4-1.
It gives the Golden Knights a championship in just their sixth season in the league, completing a rapid climb to the top of the NHL mountain.
Vegas was an immediate Stanley Cup contender from the moment it entered the league, reaching the Stanley Cup Final in its first season back in 2017-18. That miracle run ended in five games to the Washington Capitals.
From that point on the Golden Knights were ruthless in how they built their team, going after as many big-money stars as they could find and going through a series of head coaches trying to find the right one.
That cutthroat nature did not always win them friends among players and coaches, but they now have the Stanley Cup to justify all of it.
There were no shortage of intriguing storylines from this team.
First, there was head coach Bruce Cassidy, not only winning the Cup in his first year behind the team's bench, but doing so after being fired by the Boston Bruins a year ago.
The Bruins went on to win an NHL record 65 regular season games following the firing of Cassidy, but lost in the first round to the No. 8 seed Panthers. Cassidy's new team then went on to beat the Panthers for the Cup.
It also featured the Golden Knights duo of Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith beating Florida, their former team, for a championship after the Panthers gave them away to Vegas in the 2017 expansion draft. It was an all-time blunder that ended up having championship ramifications years later.
Mark Stone also became the first player since 1922 to record a hat trick in a Stanley Cup clinching game.
Then there is Golden Knights star Jack Eichel, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, winning a championship before Connor McDavid, the No. 1 overall pick that year and the consensus best player in hockey right now.
Finally, you have Vegas goalie Adin Hill. The only reason Vegas acquired Hill before the season was to provide some goaltending depth after starter Robin Lehner was lost for the entire season due to injury. Even as the season progressed, Hill was an afterthought and did not even enter the playoffs as the team's starting goalie.
He did not get his first start into the second round and then went on to post an 11-4 record with a .935 save percentage. He is an unrestricted free agent after this season and played his way into a major deal with somebody.
After having no pro sports teams a decade ago. Vegas now has two pro sports champions (the Golden Knights and the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces), an NFL team (the Raiders) and could soon land an MLB team (the Oakland A's). Vegas is now officially on the map as a major league sports city.
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