The Stanley Cup will be paraded down the Las Vegas strip later this week.
Just six years into their franchise’s existence, the Vegas Golden Knights are Stanley Cup champions.
In front of a raucous home crowd at T-Mobile Arena tonight, the Knights knocked off the Florida Panthers 9-3 in game five to claim hockey’s biggest prize.
One of 18 Canadians on the Vegas roster, Mark Stone led the way with a hat trick in the Cup-clinching game.
Nicolas Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nick Roy also scored for the Knights in the emphatic win. Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett responded for the Panthers.
Jonathan Marchessault, who Vegas chose from Florida during the expansion draft in June 2017, was awarded the Conn Smyth Trophy as playoff MVP after posting 13 goals and 12 assists in 22 games.
It caps off a dominant playoff run for the NHL’s second newest team, who beat the Winnipeg Jets in five, Edmonton Oilers in six, Dallas Stars in six and finally the Panthers in five.
It also marks a happier ending to a Stanley Cup Final series in Vegas than what Knights fans, brand new to the league, experienced five years ago.
After a surprising inaugural season and run to the Final in 2018, the Knights lost the series on home ice in game five to the Washington Capitals.
As fans left the rink disappointed after the fairy tale run ended, Alex Ovechkin and the rest of the Capitals celebrated the first Cup win in franchise history.
The celebration then spilled out to the Vegas strip for a well-documented, multi-day party that even saw Ovechkin take a swim in the Bellagio fountain.
Now, the Vegas players will get the chance to celebrate on the Vegas strip, and take a swim in the Bellagio fountain if they so choose.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Getty Images.
