One night after the Miami Heat had their championship hopes dashed with a Game 5 road loss, the Florida Panthers suffered the same fate.
Down injured star Matthew Tkachuk, the Panthers couldn't keep their season alive on Tuesday night as they suffered a lopsided 9-3 Game 5 loss to the Golden Knights at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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The result gives Vegas its first Stanley Cup championship just six seasons after it joined the NHL as an expansion franchise. It also ends a Cinderella Panthers run that the franchise was hoping would result in its first Stanley Cup title.
Entering the postseason as the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed, Florida shocked the hockey world with a seven-game upset of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins. The Panthers then disposed of the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games and swept the Carolina Hurricanes to reach their second Cup Final.
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But after knocking off three of the East's top four teams from the regular season, Florida couldn't keep up with the West's top-seeded Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights outscored the Panthers 17-9 over the first four games of the series, and Vegas jumped on Florida early in Game 5.
During a Florida power play 11 minutes into the first period, Golden Knights captain Mark Stone came up with a takeaway at Vegas' blue line and capitalized on a two-on-one break by beating Sergei Bobrovsky for a shorthanded goal.
NHL
Less than two minutes later, Vegas lit the lamp again. This time, Nicolas Hague knocked home the puck following a hectic sequence in front of the net.
The Panthers got on the board minutes into the second period when Aaron Ekblad fired a wrist shot from long range past Adin Hill.
But the Golden Knights answered back with another flurry. First, Alec Martinez scored on a wrister from the high slot with under 10 minutes left in the second.
Then, less than two minutes later, Reilly Smith slammed home a slick between-the-legs feed from William Karlsson.
Vegas' captain got on the scoresheet once again five minutes later as Bobrovsky couldn't corral a wrister from Stone.
Vegas' second-period flurry ended with just seconds on the clock. Michael Amadio scored on the doorstep off his own rebound to give the Golden Knights a commanding five-goal lead.
Ivan Barbashev made it five unanswered goals for Vegas by chipping in a rebound chance on the doorstep with under 12 minutes remaining.
Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett finally ended Florida's scoring drought with two quick scores, but Stone put any potential for a miraculous Panthers comeback to bed with an empty-netter from deep in Vegas' own end.
Nicolas Roy put an exclamation point on Vegas' title-clinching win in the waning moments, becoming the latest Golden Knight to convert a rebound chance.
Original Golden Knight and ex-Panther Jonathan Marchessault was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player of the playoffs. The 32-year-old tallied 13 goals and 12 assists during the postseason and is the first undrafted player to capture the award since Wayne Gretzky in 1988.
Vegas' championship triumph bookends an impressive six-year opening stretch for the franchise. The Golden Knights reached the Cup Final in their inaugural 2017-18 campaign and they made it back to the Western Conference Final two seasons later.
After missing the playoffs for the first time last season, Vegas brought in Bruce Cassidy to replace Peter DeBoer as head coach and went on to post a franchise-best 111 points in the regular season. The Golden Knights entered the playoffs as the top seed in the West, taking down the Winnipeg Jets in five games, the Edmonton Oilers in six and the Dallas Stars in six to book their second Cup Final trip.
