It was the first appearance by the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final since 1996. The Golden Knights made their second trip to the championship round for the second time in their six-season franchise history.
The Panthers are winless playing at T-Mobile Arena and now have a 0-5-1 all-time record in Las Vegas. The Cats stand at 0-5 in Stanley Cup Final contests.
Florida picked up a shorthanded goal at the 9:40 mark of the first period for a 1-0 lead. Anton Lundell intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and brought it into the Golden Knights zone. He then angled a pass from top of the zone to his left. Eric Staal carried the puck from the left circle, around the Vegas cage and put in a wraparound forehand shot by Adin Hill. Staal, who played in his 100th Stanley Cup Playoff game, chalked up his second goal of the postseason.
Vegas evened it up 1-1 on the power play with 2:42 left in the first. Shea Theodore flipped a backhand pass from the top of the zone to the right wing. Chandler Stephenson made a backhand centering pass from the end wall and former Panthers player Jonathan Marchessault one-timed a shot from the low slot past Sergei Bobrovsky for his 10th goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In the second period, the Golden Knights took a 2-1 lead with 9:06 remaining. Brett Howden backhanded a pass from the left corner. Brayden McNabb sent a cross-ice pass from the right point. Theodore skated from the right point and snapped a shot from the high slot for his first goal of the playoffs.
The Panthers tied it 2-2 with 10.2 seconds to go in the period. Aleksander Barkov drew the puck back on a right-circle faceoff. Anthony Duclair released a wrist shot for his fourth goal of the postseason.
It became 3-2 for Vegas at the 6:59 mark of the third period. Jack Eichel pushed the puck from the left circle to Ivan Barbashev in the left corner He connected a diagonal pass to the high slot and Zach Whitecloud scored on a snap shot for his second goal.
Vegas added to their lead to make it 4-2 with 6:19 left in the third. Mark Stone stopped a clearing pass in the high slot and snapped a shot for his seventh goal of the playoffs.
Florida pulled their goalie with two minutes to go for an extra attacker. Reilly Smith burned his former team and placed the puck into an empty net from the red line with 1:45 remaining for a power-play goal. Eichel was credited with an assist on the play.
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