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Golden Knights pull away from Panthers in the third, take Game 1 by 5-2 count

Posted on by Todd Little
Graphic by Francisco Oporta

The Vegas Golden Knight scored three goals in the third period to post a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers at T-Mobile Arena in Game 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

After a long break from game action, the Panthers did a rather good job of answering the bell, taking the lead at the 9:40 mark on Eric Staal’s shorthanded goal. Staal forced a turnover in his own end and then joined Anton Lundell on the rush down ice. Lundell waited before finding Staal, who rounded the net and banked the puck in off of Adin Hill’s stick.

Vegas would make the Cats pay for their second penalty (interference on Josh Mahura) of the opening period at 17:18. Shea Theodore deftly gained the zone and backhanded the puck to Chandler Stephenson on the right side. Both Marc Staal and Brandon Montour went below the goal line to chase after him and Stephenson passed to a wide-open Jonathan Marchessault, who slammed the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida came close to retaking the lead 55 ticks into the second, but Adin Hill robbed Nick Cousins with the paddle of stick after a beautiful passing play that saw Sam Bennett go to Montour, who dished off to Matthew Tkachuk. Stunning save by Hill, but that needs to go in.

Theodore would victimize the Panthers with his fancy footwork again 10:54 into the second. With the Golden Knights applying pressure, Theodore dipsy doodled his way around Anthony Duclair, who was still stinging from a shot block, and launched a shot that beat Bobrovksy with Brett Howden and Mahura screening the keeper. Howden and Brayden McNabb were credited with the helpers on Theodore’s first of the playoffs.

Duclair would get the goal back with 11 seconds left in the frame, pouncing on the puck after an Aleksander Barkov face-off win and quickly firing it between Hill’s pads for his fourth of the postseason.

Vegas turned over the winning card 6:54 into the third. Marchessault sprung a 2-0n-2 rush and Jack Eichel’s knifing pass necessitated a big pad save from Bobrovsky to deny Ivan Barabashev. Unfortunately, Eichel stuck a fork in the rebound and slid the puck back to Barbashev, who fed Zach Whitecloud in the high slot. The defenseman then sent a seeing eye shot through heavy traffic that eluded Bobrovsky.

Tkachuk would singlehandedly end any realistic chance of a Florida comeback. First, his aerial pass attempt was batted out of the air and deposited in the back of the net by Mark Stone via a nice top-shelf shot that withstood a coach’s challenge with 6:19 remaining.

Then, late in the ensuing penalty kill,  Tkachuk took a double-minor for roughing Nicolas Hague and was tossed from the game, leaving the Cats shorthanded for essentially the rest of the game, once the rest of the penalties were handed out. Dumb…

The end game saw Sam Reinhart flub a shorthanded breakaway attempt that could’ve halved the deficit and another Ex-Cat, Reilly Smith score into an empty net with the lone assist going to Eichel.

Florida played well in spurts, but an o-for-3 performance on the power play, three posts, a bit of a whiff by Cousins, problems exiting their zone and some questionable decisions coupled with an opportunistic performance by the Golden Knights did them in in Game 1. With a joust now under their belts, hopefully the Cats can deliver a much sharper Game 2.

Aces & Deuces

  • It was a fine night for the Vegas defense. After only getting three goals from its defensemen over the first three rounds, both Shea Theodore and Zach Whitecloud solved Sergei Bobrovsky from long range.
  • Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots and gave up more than three goals in a game for the first time since April 30, ending a nine game run of two goals or less.
  • Adin Hill made 33 saves to get the win and his denial of Nick Cousins will live on in highlight reels for a long, long time.
  • Erc Staal’s goal, his first in a Final in 17 years, marked the third time in Stanley Cup Final history the opening goal of the series was scored shorthanded. It also happened in 1997 (Kirk Maltby) and 1936 (Bucko McDonald). Maltby and McDonald were both members of the Detroit Red Wings when they did it.
  • Former Panther Jonathan Marchessault extended his point streak to six games. Marchessault’s goal was his tenth, tying with William Karlsson for the team lead.
  • For the happier side of Game 1, stop by our FHF sister station in desert, Knights On Ice.

Talking Points