Vegas Golden Knights Beat Florida Panthers To Win Stanley Cup
The Vegas Golden Knights, born out of trepidation, tragedy and ultimately triumph, won their first Stanley Cup in just their sixth season, beating the Florida Panthers, 9-3, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
The Knights, the top seed in the Western Conference, used a high-speed, sharp-elbowed attack to overwhelm the Panthers, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, in five games. The Knights were making their second appearance in the finals, the same as the Panthers.
But while the Panthers came within one round of a championship for the first time since 1996, the Knights made the second-fastest trip to a Stanley Cup victory by any team in the expansion era that began in 1967, trailing only the Edmonton Oilers, who won the Cup in their fifth season in the league. (The Oilers played seven seasons in the World Hockey Association before joining the N.H.L.)
“We waited a lot of time for that moment to come back and we wanted to make sure we cashed in," said Vegas winger Jonathan Marchessault, who was selected from the Panthers in the expansion draft and was one of the original “misfits” from Vegas’ inaugural season. “This team has been unbelievable since the beginning.”
Source: The New York Times
