Golden Knights trying to become one of fastest expansion teams to win championship

Thanks to a 5-2 win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Vegas Golden Knights have an early 1-0 series lead over the Florida Panthers.

That not only puts history on their side when it comes to winning the series, it also brings them one game closer to making history.

If the Golden Knights are able to win three more games and claim their first Stanley Cup, they would do so in just their sixth season of existence. 

That would be the fastest an NHL expansion franchise has won a Stanley Cup in the modern era (post 1967).

The current benchmark is set by the Philadelphia Flyers, who entered the league during the 1967-68 season and won their first title seven years later during the 1973-74 season. 

The Flyers were also competing in a non-salary cap era with only 16 teams in the league, 10 of which had either entered the NHL the same year they did or after them. So the level of competition was not quite as stiff as the Golden Knights are facing in a 32-team league of established teams and a salary cap.

The Golden Knights, however, had some loosened Expansion Draft rules when they entered that gave them access to better players, while they also took advantage of several teams that panicked during the process and gave up better players (and sometimes more players) than they needed to give up. 

Six of those original Golden Knights players still play on the 2022-23 team, including Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, William Carrier and Brayden McNabb. 

Marchessault, Smith and Theodore all scored goals in Saturday's Game 1 win. 

Marchessault and Smith arrived in Vegas from Florida during that expansion draft process as the Panthers were one of the teams that messed up the process. 

Florida sent Marchessault and Smith to the Golden Knights in an attempt to dump Smith's contract while also enticing Vegas to not take one of their defensemen. It was a stunning trade at the time given that both players were established in the league. Marchessault was one of Florida's best players the year prior.

Moves like that helped the Golden Knights to reach the Stanley Cup Final in their first season and become a constant contender. This is already their fifth playoff appearance in six years (the 2021-22 season was their miss) and second Stanley Cup Final appearance. They have reached the Western Conference Final three different times. 

As far as fast champions in other sports, the Arizona Diamondbacks won the World Series in just their third season, while the Milwaukee Bucks did the same in their third season in the NBA.