Golden Knights-Panthers score, takeaways: Vegas routs Florida in Game 5 to win its first Stanley Cup
Mark Stone's third-period empty-net goal completed a hat trick as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 on June 13, 2023, winning the franchise's first Stanley Cup in just its sixth season.
The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 at T-Mobile Arena on June 13, 2023, closing out the Stanley Cup Final in five games to win the franchise's first championship, according to ESPN's game recap. The win came in the team's sixth season since entering the NHL in 2017.
Mark Stone scored three goals, including a shorthanded marker and an empty-netter, powering the offensive performance, per ESPN. Jack Eichel recorded three assists orchestrating the Vegas attack, and defenseman Alec Martinez added a goal from the blue line.
How the game unfolded
Vegas established control early, scoring twice in the first period, according to ESPN's recap. Stone opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 11:52 of the first period after goaltender Adin Hill made a string of crucial saves, and Nicolas Hague made it 2-0 at 13:41, per NHL.com's game recap. Aaron Ekblad cut Florida's deficit to 2-1 early in the second period, but Vegas answered with four unanswered goals in a span of roughly nine and a half minutes -- from Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Stone's second of the night, and Michael Amadio -- to take a commanding 6-1 lead into the third.
Ivan Barbashev extended the lead to 7-1 in the third period before Florida scored twice to make it 7-3, and Vegas closed the scoring with Stone's empty-net hat-trick goal and a final goal from Nicolas Roy to finish 9-3, according to NHL.com. Adin Hill made 32 saves in net for Vegas.
The individual honors
Jonathan Marchessault was named winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player, finishing the postseason with 25 points, according to NHL.com's recap. Jack Eichel led all playoff scorers with 26 points across the run. Stone's third-period empty-net goal made him the first player to record a hat trick in a Stanley Cup Final since Colorado's Peter Forsberg in 1996 -- also against the Panthers -- and made him the first team captain with nine or more points in a single Final since Joe Sakic in 2001, per NHL.com.
What the win signals
ESPN's recap framed the result within the franchise's identity since its 2017 inaugural season, noting "Golden Knights games have always been as flashy as any show on the Las Vegas Strip." Winning a championship in year six is, per that framing, the payoff of an expansion team built to compete immediately rather than through a slow rebuild -- Vegas had also reached the Stanley Cup Final in its very first season, in 2018, before losing to Washington.
Marchessault, one of the "Misfits" -- players unwanted by other teams who were part of Vegas' original 2017 expansion roster -- said afterward, "All of us, the Golden Knights, we're all winners. It's definitely the best feeling in the world," according to NHL.com's recap. Coach Bruce Cassidy started five of those original Misfits in Game 5 and, noting Martinez's habit of saving his goals for the biggest moments, remarked, "Alec Martinez only scores in Stanley Cup Finals, apparently," per the same source.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by ESPN and NHL.com. It restores a story originally published on this site in June 2023; figures are as reported at the time.