Golden Hour In Las Vegas: Team That Healed City In Year 1 Wins Stanley Cup In Year 6 Before Electric Crowd Of 19,058 Tonight; Golden Knights 9 Panthers 3 in Game 5

The Misfits Line of Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith and William Karlsson celebrated with their families like all the players did after the game on the ice.

 

 

LVSportsBiz.com also caught up with ESPN hockey analyst Kevin Weekes about the Golden Knights and owner Bill Foley.

 

 

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(Publisher’s Note: LVSportsBiz.com is topping off this story with new content all day as Las Vegas prepares for a potential Stanley Cup-clinching win by the Vegas Golden Knights against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the NHL Final at T-Mobile Arena.)

Story by Alan Snel   Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell

They helped heal a city in Year 1 in 2017.

They lost in a Stanley Cup Final in that miracle inaugural season and two NHL semis in Years 3 and 4.

But tonight the Vegas Golden Knights celebrated with the Stanley Cup — and with Las Vegas in 2023.

The Knights smashed the Florida Panthers, 9-3, on a Tuesday night in June.

The Golden Knights stressed the theme of taking care of unfinished business during this two-month championship run after losing in the Cup Final in 2018 and in the NHL semis in 2020 and 2021. The VGK knocked off Winnipeg, Edmonton and Dallas in the first three rounds before defeating Florida in five games, four games to one.

LVSportsBiz.com learned the championship parade is Saturday at 7 PM down the Strip.

“The Cup in six years,” VGK owner (and prophet) Bill Foley said after hoisting the Cup.

Foley told the fans, “Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.”

There was unbridled joy in an arena that overflowed with a record 19,058 fans in a building with fixed seating of 17,367.

“Not only is Las Vegas a hockey town. It’s a championship town,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

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The final period of Stanley Cup Final Game 5 was a joy ride for the Vegas Golden Knights in front of the stunning and loud record crowd.

Mark Stone completed a hat trick with an empty-netter.

Goalie Adin Hill flashed the leather to rob a Panthers of a goal.

And the Knights — after losing in the Stanley Cup Final in Year 1 and in the NHL semis in Years 3 and 4 — cruised in Game 5 against a gritty but overwhelmed and outmanned Florida Panthers squad to secure a league title in Year 6.

The VGK and Florida Panthers traded goals in the third period and Vegas was up, 7-2, midway through the third stanza.

The Panthers made it, 7-3, with about seven minutes to go.

Final: Vegas 9 Florida 3.

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The Florida Panthers have enjoyed an inspiring run.

But it looked like they ran out of juice against the Vegas Golden Knights. Florida still has never won a game at T-Mobile Arena.

Knights center Jack Eichel dropped a nice pass for defenseman Alec Martinez, who fired a shot to the far post past Bobrovsky in the second period.

Then sustained pressure in the Florida zone culminated with Reilly Smith scoring the Knights’ fourth goal of the evening.

The VGK were cruising, 4-1, and Florida looked gassed.

And then Stone scored his second of the night later in period two.

The Knights were cruising. It was 5-1.

“We want the Cup” chants are bouncing off the big arena.

And with two seconds left in the second period, Michael Amadio scored from out in front of the net.

It was a safe and secure 6-1 lead after two periods.

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The big crowd roared after the first period. The Golden had a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

But the Florida Panthers silenced the giant crowd when Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad slid the puck into the net only 2:15 into the second period.

We now have some theater.

VGK led, 2-1, in the second period.

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Hill stopped the shots.

Mark Stone scores them.

The Golden Knights jumped to a 1-0 lead after Hill made an exquisite save after some fine Panthers passing on their power play. Stone then grabbed the puck on the left side, skated about half the length of the ice and beat Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky from in close for a short-handed tally.

Then VGK defenseman Nic Hague poked in a goal after a pile-up in front of the Panthers goal and Vegas had a 2-0 lead less than two minutes later after a sloppy start in the first period.

The Panthers — minus their top gun Matthew Tkachuk — are just outmanned. They don’t have the manpower or the firepower to win this game.

After one period, Vegas 2 Florida 0.

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The first three minutes of the game featured several good scoring chances, including a breakaway by Florida’s Anton Lundell.

But VGK goalie Hill, who had registered 10 postseason wins entering Game 5 after entering the second round series against the Edmonton Oilers, stoned Lundell after the Knights coughed up the puck.

The Knights were heavy favorites tonight.

But they came out poorly with sloppy play.

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The fans came hungry for a Game 5 win and to hear Steve Aoki before the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers faced off.

The plaza was packed.

LVSportsBiz.com was expecting well over 18,500 fans to fill the arena, which has an official seating capacity of 17,367. Who knew the arena attendance would eclipse the 19,000 mark.

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Pregame pressers don’t reveal much new information but it was interesting to hear VGK coach Bruce Cassidy mention that the players feel an “obligation” to finish off the series at home in front of family.

He said once the players jumped in their cars for the arena, they’re locked back into their game day routines and would be ready to try and clinch the Cup for Game 5.

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Steve Yeager, the Nevada Assembly speaker, loves the Vegas Golden Knights.

So the lawyer from Las Vegas and hardcore VGK fan Tuesday morning tweeted a photo of the mascot of the NHL team, a six-year-old franchise a mere win away from securing the Stanley Cup trophy at T-Mobile Arena tonight. He added the team hashtag, #vegasborn, on his social media missive.

But a funny thing about being a VGK superfan who happens to be the speaker of the Nevada Assembly.

The government body is meeting today as a committee of the whole to hear information and testimony about the Oakland Athletics’ request that Nevada lawmakers approve Senate Bill 1 authorizing $380 million in government assistance to help build a $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat baseball stadium at the Tropicana hotel site on the Strip.

In the strange and bizarre world of sports and politics in Las Vegas, the Assembly is meeting on the day that the Golden Knights are playing to win a Stanley Cup championship against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the NHL Final.

And even if the Assembly speaker tried to keep it about the Golden Knights in his tweet, the reactions were about the Athletics’ request for a stadium construction subsidy. Take a look:

For the record, the Nevada Senate’s committee of the whole voted, 13-8, to approve an amended S.B. 1 and now the proposed stadium subsidy legislation moves to the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Athletics fans were staging a reverse protest to come and out and root on on the red-hot A’s, current owners of the longest winning street in Major League Baseball.

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The Vegas Golden Knights’ quest for a NHL title has special meaning for Las Vegas’ oldtime hockey fans, who have watched hockey teams like the Thunder and the Wranglers before the Golden Knights staged their expansion draft six years ago in the arena where the Knights will try and claim an NHL championship.

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Before the puck drops at 5:20 PM, a big name in Las Vegas music will be getting fans pumped up. Steve Aoki is set to perform at 3 PM.

 

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From 2018: The man singing tonight’s anthem. Carnell “Golden Pipes” Johnson

 

 

 

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