Six seasons after their NHL debut, the Vegas Golden Knights are Stanley Cup champions. The Golden Knights blasted the Florida Panthers, 9-3, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to win hockey’s ultimate prize in front of their home crowd.
The Matthew Tkachuk-less Panthers came out with a strong push in the first period, but Vegas netminder Adin Hill made some key stops that allowed his team to seize the momentum. Mark Stone scored a shorthanded goal 11:52 into the game, and defenseman Nic Hague doubled the lead a few minutes later. The Golden Knights were off and running.
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad scored early in the second period to make it a one-goal game, but any dreams of a Game 6 were short-lived. Following Ekblad’s goal, the Golden Knights launched an onslaught against Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Vegas spent the final 10 minutes of the second period in the Florida zone, and it hung four goals on the scoreboard to take a 6-1 lead.
After a long run of playoff brilliance from both players, Stone and Jack Eichel saved their best performances for last. Eichel was all over the ice, making plays on the backcheck and the forecheck. He was rewarded with three assists and finished the playoffs with 20, which led the league.
All Stone did was seal a Stanley Cup victory with three goals. His hat trick was the first in a Stanley Cup Final since Colorado Avalanche legend Petr Forsber pulled it off in Game 2 of the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, which was also against the Panthers.
As the hats hit the ice following Stone’s empty-net goal, the party had officially started in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights are on top of the hockey world.
Vegas seizes golden opportunity
The Golden Knights did get a favorable setup in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, but simply getting an edge and taking advantage of that edge are two different things. Vegas did everything in its power to win in the franchise’s early years, and it succeeded in that mission.
Vegas made the most of the new expansion draft rules and fielded a talented team that went to the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season, but the team was not satisfied with that. Following the 2017-18 season, the Golden Knights decided to make some bold moves, and they hit on most of them.
Only six players from that original team were on the roster when the Golden Knights hoisted the trophy on Tuesday night. Look at the rest of the lineup, and you’ll see the aggressive approach that the franchise took in terms of roster construction. Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Alex Pietrangelo were all splashy moves, and they all worked out for Vegas.
Of course, the team had to make tough decisions along the way. 2021 Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury was traded away for peanuts in that offseason. This past summer, Vegas traded star winger Max Pacioretty to the Carolina Hurricanes for practically nothing. The Golden Knights took some flack for those trades, but it was about creating flexibility to build a Stanley Cup contender.
From there, it was on the players and first-year coach Bruce Cassidy to get the job done, and they did. Perhaps more franchises can learn from the Golden Knights’ aggressive philosophy.
Eichel, Stone reward Golden Knights for big swings
Two of those big moves — Jack Eichel and Mark Stone — came with high acquisition costs and big financial commitments once they got to town. At the time, it was easy to get sticker shock from looking at the trade returns and their salary cap hits.
There is no stick shock now.
Both players came to Vegas with a lot of hype and lived up to it throughout this playoff run. Eichel dominated in all three zones and showed off his elite patience and vision in every series. As a result, he ended the playoffs as the league leader in assists (20) and points (26).
Stone barely returned from injury in time to participate in these playoffs, but that didn’t affect him. Stone was a force on the defensive side, as is usually the case, but he also found the back of the net on a regular basis. Stone capped off his Stanley Cup run with a hat trick in Game 5.
There was a lot of pressure on Stone and Eichel to perform in Vegas, and they did. When it mattered most, they were the Golden Knights’ two best players, and this might be the start of something special for that duo.
Panthers run out of steam without Tkachuk
After falling behind 3-1 in their first-round series against the Boston Bruins, the Florida Panthers didn’t make many missteps. They won 11 of their next 12 games en route to the Stanley Cup Final, but they just ran out of gas against a deep Golden Knights team.
Coming into the series, it was clear that Vegas would have somewhat of an edge at five-on-five, but Florida could have made up for that on special teams. Instead, the Panthers struggled mightily on the power play. They had 14 opportunities on the man advantage in the Stanley Cup Final and wound up allowing more goals (1) than they scored (0) in those situations.
The Panthers also battled a laundry list of injuries, and the most impactful was Matthew Tkachuk’s broken collarbone. He suffered that injury in Game 3 and somehow managed to battle through it in Game 4 before sitting out the series finale.
Without Tkachuk in the lineup and several injured players suiting up, the Panthers were several steps behind in Game 5. Once Vegas flipped a switch in the second period, the floodgates opened, and the Panthers didn’t have enough energy left to close them.
Although it was a tough ending for the Panthers, they still went on an incredible postseason run that the fan base will remember for years to come. On top of that, they should be a factor in the playoffs next season, especially with Tkachuk as the cornerstone of the franchise.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
