Barkov: Panthers’ surprise run to Stanley Cup Final ‘made us stronger’

The Florida Panthers may have fallen short of winning their first-ever Stanley Cup championship last spring, but captain Aleksander Barkov said his team grew from the experience despite the “very frustrating” defeat.

“I think that whole run, it made us stronger,” Barkov said during a recent interview for the “NHL @TheRink” podcast. “The core is pretty much the same with the team, and now we’ve experienced almost everything. … We know. When you’re experienced in something, you know what to expect.”

After a wildly inconsistent 2022-23 regular season, the Panthers eked their way into the playoff picture, claiming the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference by just one point over the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.

From there, Florida took the league by storm.

The Cardiac Cats emerged as unlikely victors against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins, defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, and – in their first Eastern Conference Final appearance since 1996 – swept a perennial contender in the Carolina Hurricanes.

“We played in Toronto – probably the biggest hockey market – during the playoffs. We experienced that,” Barkov said. “Carolina, the way they play, we experienced that. Then obviously the finals, I feel like it was just a different animal leading up to it.”

The Vegas Golden Knights ended up taking the Stanley Cup Final in five games to dash the Panthers’ dreams of lifting the Cup.

Prior to the miracle run, Barkov only had 26 games of playoff experience under his belt and had never made it out of the second round. The 28-year-old was instrumental to Florida’s success in 2023, chipping in with five goals and 16 points in 21 postseason games.

Florida won’t look too different in 2023-24 – its key departures of the offseason were Anthony Duclair, Radko Gudas, and Marc Staal – but the team will likely be starting the new campaign in a tough Atlantic Division without two of its top defensemen. Both Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour are recovering from offseason shoulder surgeries. The former played through the playoffs with a broken foot and torn oblique.

“Those types of guys are not replaceable at all. … They were a huge part of our success last year. … It’s a great challenge for us, for everyone to step up,” Barkov said.

Puck drops on the Panthers’ 2023-24 campaign on Oct. 12 against the Minnesota Wild.

Golden Knights dismantle Panthers to win 1st Stanley Cup

The Vegas Golden Knights dominated the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Tuesday’s Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to capture the franchise’s first championship.

Vegas jumped out to a 2-0 advantage on first-period goals from Mark Stone and Nicolas Hague.

Aaron Ekblad’s tally 2:15 into the second period gave the Panthers hope before the Golden Knights poured it on to put the game out of reach. Alec Martinez and Reilly Smith scored 1:45 apart, with Stone and Michael Amadio padding the lead to close out the middle frame.

Stone scored an empty-netter in the third period to complete the first hat trick in a Stanley Cup-winning game in over 100 years and the first in the Stanley Cup Final at all since Peter Forsberg in 1996.

Breakout sensation Adin Hill made 30 saves for Vegas in the victory.

“I thought we earned every step of the way,” Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy told Sportsnet. “The series we won, I thought we played as the better team, so good for us.”

“The look in my teammates’ eyes when I got (the Stanley Cup), one of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had,” Stone said, according to The Associated Press. “I can’t even describe the feelings in my stomach right now. It’s everything you can imagine. The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds. You grind, and you grind, and you grind.”

“This is what everyone dreams of,” Jack Eichel said. “You come to an organization like this, and the expectation is to win this thing. It’s a special place to play. I can’t give everyone enough credit for putting us in this position.

“They call ’em the misfits. Those are the guys; they built this. They built this culture. So proud to be a part of it.”

Jonathan Marchessault – one of those misfits as an original member of the Golden Knights – won the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP. He tallied 13 goals and 25 points in 22 playoff contests.

“(Vegas) earned it,” Panthers bench boss Paul Maurice said, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo. “They were outstanding, and we didn’t have an answer for it.”

The Golden Knights’ nine goals are the most ever in a Stanley Cup-clinching victory, surpassing the previous record of eight set by the 1985 Edmonton Oilers and 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins.

Superstar forward Matthew Tkachuk didn’t suit up Tuesday for Florida due to an injury.

Vegas had four players reach the 10-goal mark in the postseason, a feat only previously done by the Oilers in 1985, 1988, and 1990.

Martinez, Phil Kessel, and Jonathan Quick became three-time Stanley Cup champions in the win. Martinez was the only player of the trio to play in this year’s finals.

Vegas entered the NHL in 2017-18 as an expansion team. The inaugural edition of the Golden Knights went on a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Washington Capitals in five games.

The championship is the first for a major men’s professional team based in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Aces won the WNBA title in 2022.

The Golden Knights are also the first franchise to win a Stanley Cup in a club’s first six NHL seasons since the 1984 Oilers, though the team existed for seven years in the WHA before joining the league in 1979.

“Playoffs in three, Cup in six,” team owner Bill Foley said in 2016. “No excuses. That’s the standard. I consider that being very patient.”

Mission accomplished.

Original Golden Knights hope to fulfill owner’s wish of Cup by 6th year

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley was aggressive from the beginning, saying he wanted to win the Stanley Cup in six years.

Vegas nearly won it the first year, making the Stanley Cup Final before losing in five games to the Washington Capitals. For the players on that team, high expectations came from the top and came early.

“Maybe (Foley) saw something that we didn’t see,” said Jonathan Marchessault, one of the players on that 2017-18 team.

Marchessault and his Vegas teammates have the opportunity to make good on the owner’s projection. The Knights, who are in their sixth season, take a 3-1 series lead into Tuesday’s Stanley Cup Final game against the Florida Panthers.

Meaning the Stanley Cup will be in T-Mobile Arena for the second time. The first time was in 2018 when the Capitals skated around the rink holding the cherished prize.

The Knights have their own version of the Original Six, the half-dozen members still in the Vegas dressing room who were on that inaugural club. They called themselves the Golden Misfits, a collection of players assembled from teams around the league through the expansion draft and trades.

The six Misfits have ingrained in their collective memory of coming so close to what would have been a shocking championship, and they have been working ever since to get back to that point. Those players are careful to point out no celebrations can take place unless they beat the Panthers.

“It would be sweet, but at the same time, we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” said Shea Theodore, an original Knight. “It’s good to be at this point, but at the same time, it’s not done. We can talk about that after, but our focus is on going to work for 60 minutes. I feel like if we’re on top of our game, then we should be good.”

The Misfits have their fingerprints all over these playoffs.

William Karlsson has scored 11 goals, and his defense has been key. Coach Bruce Cassidy usually rolls his four lines, but played a little bit of a matchup game in the second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers by often putting Karlsson’s line on the ice with Connor McDavid.

Theodore’s nine assists are third among playoff defensemen. He snapped a 27-game goal drought with a key score in Game 1 against Florida and had an assist.

William Carrier, Brayden McNabb and Reilly Smith also made important contributions.

“All the guys have stepped out, had big moments and played solid,” McNabb said. “I think it kind of (speaks) to the depth on our team. When you have that buy-in, it’s a pretty hard team to beat.”

Vegas has been tough to beat from the beginning.

Facing the usual low expectations of an expansion team, the bond between team and city began to be forged after the mass shooting Oct. 1, 2017, that initially claimed 58 lives. The death total from what in Las Vegas is commonly referred to as One October has since been revised to 60.

More than providing a distraction for a hurting city, the Knights won from the beginning. They surprisingly made the playoffs and then went 12-3 in the first three rounds to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

After falling short to the Capitals, management decided to begin taking apart the team and setting the stage to bring in high-profile players, eventually adding the likes of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo. The Knights also are on the third coach despite making the postseason each year but once.

This season’s team bears little resemblance to the first. Except for those six remaining players.

“We came that close in the first year, but there are a lot of guys in this room that have been playing a long time, a lot of hard games, a lot of battles trying to get to this moment,” Theodore said.

Foley set the expectations from beginning.

Playoffs in three. Cup in six.

“After we lost in the finals the first year, Bill said, ‘OK, Stanley Cup in three,’” Smith said. “I don’t know if that got published, but we’ve felt we’ve had the team every year to push and to challenge for the Stanley Cup. We’re in a better spot today, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Golden Knights 1 win away from lifting 1st Stanley Cup after Game 4 win

The Vegas Golden Knights are one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history after holding off the Florida Panthers 3-2 in Game 4 on Saturday night.

Chandler Stephenson led the way for Sin City with a two-goal performance, his second of these playoffs. He set the tone by besting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky off a sweet feed from Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud just 1:39 into the contest.

William Karlsson scored for Vegas in the second period to give the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead, putting an end to his three-game goalless drought.

However, the Cardiac Cats didn’t go down without a fight.

Panthers blue-liner Brandon Montour got Florida on the board in the middle frame after his shot went off the skates of Golden Knights defensemen Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore before squeaking past netminder Adin Hill.

Florida captain Aleksander Barkov netted his first tally of the series early in the third period to make it a one-goal game, but that’s as close as the Panthers would get.

There was no shortage of fireworks after the final horn sounded.

Tempers flare. Rats are flyin'. A little chaos after the final buzzer. pic.twitter.com/6P0Tbt66us

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 11, 2023

Various skirmishes erupted while fans threw plastic rats and trash onto the ice.

The Golden Knights survived an injury scare to star forward Jack Eichel. He briefly exited the contest after taking teammate Jonathan Marchessault’s shot to the neck in the final minute of the second period, but Eichel returned in the final frame.

The shots were even at 31 apiece in the contest. Hill stood tall with a 29-save performance.

Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk sat out for large swathes of the third period. Head coach Paul Maurice said the Hart Trophy nominee – who was injured in Game 3 – had to grind through the contest, and that the team opted to play him less in the final frame Saturday to conserve his energy, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo.

Maurice added that the Panthers will have to reassess Tkachuk’s ailment before Game 5.

Vegas will now have a chance to win the Stanley Cup on home ice Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

The Panthers were down 3-1 in their opening-round series against the Boston Bruins, but they won three straight games to pull off the upset.

Tkachuk is confident the Panthers can capture that lightning in a bottle again.

“Just go out there, win one game, and force them to come back to Florida,” he said postgame, according to team beat reporter Jameson Olive. “That’s pretty much the message in this room.

“Same thing with Boston. … We just thought short term and get it back to Florida then, and we’re going to do the same thing now.”

The Golden Knights made it to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season in 2018 but fell to the Washington Capitals in five games. Karlsson, McNabb, Theodore, Marchessault, Reilly Smith, and William Carrier were all on that roster.

Panthers rally, top Golden Knights 3-2 in OT in Game 3 of Stanley Cup final

Overtime. Season basically on the line. The Florida Panthers keep finding ways to flourish in those moments.

And for the first time, they’ve won a game in the Stanley Cup Final.

Carter Verhaeghe snapped a wrister from the slot high into the back of the net 4:27 into overtime and the Panthers rallied to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Thursday night in Game 3. Vegas still leads the title series 2-1, but Florida has life and found a way to turn overtime into its favorite time once again.

“We’re the Cats,” said Verhaeghe, after his fourth career playoff overtime goal. “We have whatever lives we have, but it’s awesome. It shows how great our team is and the guys on our team have no quit in them.”

The Panthers are 7-0 in these playoffs in OT — actually winning more games in extra sessions than they’ve won in regulation.

“We don’t know how we’re going to get there,” said Matthew Tkachuk, who tied the game with 2:13 left in regulation. “But we’re going to do everything we can to get there.”

Tkachuk gave Florida a chance, and the Panthers won their first title-series game in seven tries. Florida had to fend off a power play to start overtime, and Verhaeghe got the winner with Tkachuk providing some traffic in front of the net.

“I had a little bit of time to walk in and shoot,” Verhaeghe said. “I’m so happy it went in.”

Game 4 is Saturday night.

“There’s a little bit of collective confidence,” said Florida coach Paul Maurice, whose teams are 19-7 in overtime games over his playoff career.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for Florida. Adin Hill made 20 saves for Vegas, but got beat on the only shot that came his way in overtime.

“Normally that’s a shot that we’re going to give up, get the save and move on,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It wasn’t like an odd-man rush through the middle so I didn’t mind the way we defended it. … I mean, they’ve got good players. They’re going to make some plays.”

Brandon Montour also scored for Florida, which pulled Bobrovsky down 2-1 late in the third for the extra attacker and Tkachuk — who left for parts of the first and second periods after taking a big hit and needing to be cleared by the NHL’s concussion protocol program — made that move pay off when he tied the game.

His goal breathed life into a very nervous building. But the Panthers were furious — and replays showed they had a case — when Gustav Forsling was sent to the box with 11.2 seconds remaining for tripping. Florida survived that scare, and a few minutes later, had life in the series again.

“Nobody cares how we got here,” Tkachuk said. “It’s a 2-1 series.”

The odds are still long, but the Panthers at least have a bit more statistical hope now. Of the previous 55 teams to trail 2-1 at this point of the Stanley Cup Final, 11 have actually rallied to hoist the trophy.

It’s improbable, sure. So are the Panthers, who were the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, were down 3-1 to Boston in Round 1, were 133 seconds away from trailing this series 3-0 — and now have tons of reasons for optimism.

“We found our legs a little bit,” Florida’s San Reinhart said.

Jonathan Marchessault and Mark Stone had power-play goals for Vegas.

Marchessault’s goal was his 13th in his last 13 playoff games, his fourth of this series and his third with the man advantage.

As if all that wasn’t enough, there was a little history in there as well. Vegas joined the 1980 New York Islanders as the only team with at least two power-play goals in three consecutive games in the Cup final. And Marchessault became the third player in the last 35 years to score in each of the first three games of a title series — joining Steve Yzerman in 1997 with Detroit and Jake Guentzel with Pittsburgh in 2017.

But it wasn’t enough to give Vegas a 3-0 lead in the series.

“I didn’t mind our game,” Cassidy said. “They made a play in overtime. … Sometimes that happens to you.”

AROUND THE RINK

Florida’s 0-6 record in Stanley Cup Final games before Thursday was well short of the record for franchise futility in the title series. St. Louis lost its first 13 games in the Cup final. … Before Thursday, Florida’s last home game in the title series was June 10, 1996, when Uwe Krupp scored in the third overtime for a 1-0 win as Colorado finished off a four-game sweep of the Panthers for the Cup. … Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was in the crowd, as was NBA great Charles Barkley, and former Dolphins star Dan Marino was the celebrity drummer to welcome the Panthers onto the ice.

Marchessault, Golden Knights cruise past Panthers in physical Game 2

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and started an early blitz that chased the NHL’s hottest postseason goalie, and the Vegas Golden Knights seized control of the Stanley Cup Final with a 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 2 on Monday night.

Adin Hill continued his stellar play in net with 29 saves for the Golden Knights, who grabbed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“We finished some plays,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s a good performance for us. Our guys were ready to play.”

Marchessault also had an assist to finish with three points. His 12 postseason goals set a Golden Knights record, with all coming after the first round.

Brett Howden scored twice for the Knights, who also got goals from Alec Martinez, Nicolas Roy, and Michael Amadio. Six players had at least two points for Vegas, all 18 Knights skaters were on the ice for even-strength goals, and their nine goal scorers through the first two games are a Stanley Cup Final record. The Knights’ seven goals tied a franchise mark for a playoff game.

It was too much for Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was removed 7:10 into the second period down 4-0. It was the fifth time in 12 games the Knights have chased the opposing goalie.

“We can be a little better in front of our goaltender,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I got him out to keep him rested.”

Matthew Tkachuk and Anton Lundell scored for Florida.

Teams that take a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final are 31-3 in the expansion era. The Panthers will try to buck history beginning with Game 3 on Thursday in Sunrise, Florida.

Hill once again brought his feistiness as well as his A-game. He stopped Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway in the first, and later that period hit Tkachuk, who was in his net, with his blocker and then slashed him with his stick.

“He’s been unreal for us,” Vegas forward William Carrier said. “He’s been unbelievable.”

The Knights were dominant early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Marchessault and Martinez. It was Vegas’ third game in a row with a power-play goal, its first such stretch since Christmas week.

The Panthers lost their biggest, toughest defenseman early in the game when Radko Gudas was injured on a hit by Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev. Gudas left 6:39 in and did not return.

That was one of several big hits by Barbashev, the Golden Knights’ biggest trade-deadline acquisition, a Stanley Cup champion with St. Louis in 2019. Barbashev broke the sternum of Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard during the playoffs last year, also on a clean hit.

Vegas had its own scare late in the second period when Jack Eichel was nailed in the right shoulder by Tkachuk. Eichel returned in the third and set up Marchessault’s second goal for his second assist of the game.

“We did a good job managing momentum tonight,” Eichel said. “And we got some timely goals.”

Hill, Whitecloud power Knights past Panthers in Cup Final opener

Back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in five years and trailing the Florida Panthers less than 10 minutes into Game 1, the Vegas Golden Knights sent a very clear message.

“We were ready,” Jonathan Marchessault said.

Ready and dominant. Vegas rallied from an early deficit, got the go-ahead goal from Zach Whitecloud with just over 13 minutes left and arguably the best save of the playoffs from Adin Hill and beat Florida 5-2 Saturday night to take the lead in the best-of-seven series.

“We kept out composure, and it was good,” said Marchessault, one of six original Knights players left from the start of the franchise in 2017 who scored the tying goal in the first period. “We just wanted to play the right way and be disciplined, and tonight we were able to be the better team.”

Whitecloud put Vegas ahead, a crucial penalty kill followed and captain Mark Stone scored an insurance goal that was reviewed for a high stick and confirmed. Reilly Smith sealed it with an empty-netter to make the score look more lopsided than the game.

The combination of that offense and Hill’s 33 saves put Vegas up after a feisty opener between Sun Belt teams who wasted little time getting acquainted with big hits during play and plenty of post-whistle pushing and shoving.

“It’s exactly what we expected,” said Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore, who scored his first goal of the playoffs and ended a 27-game drought dating to March 7. “That’s how they wanted to play. We were just trying not to play into it.”

That stuff is just beginning. Game 2 is Monday in Las Vegas.

Before the Panthers even get a chance to respond, they ratcheted up the physical play late after falling behind by two. A handful of penalties resulting from a fracas with 4:24 remaining left the Florida bench well short.

The outcome was determined long before that.

After falling behind on a short-handed goal by Eric Staal that sucked the life out of the crowd of 18,432, the Golden Knights rallied for their ninth comeback win this playoffs. Marchessault — known since arriving in Las Vegas for scoring big goals — answered before the end of the first period.

Early in the second, Hill made a desperation stick save to rob Nick Cousins of what would have been a sure goal. The save was reminiscent of the one Washington’s Braden Holtby made against Vegas — in the same crease — five years ago.

“That’s an unreal save — it’s a game-changer,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You need those saves at key moments.”

Giving up a tying goal to Anthony Duclair with 10.2 seconds left in the second did not slow the Golden Knights’ momentum much. Whitecloud’s goal, with two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky screened and unable to see, fired up fans once again.

Bobrovsky, in the final for the first time, downplayed any reason for concern after stopping 29 of 34 shots and losing for just the second time in 12 games this postseason.

“I played a good game,” Bobrovsky said. “I played a solid game. They created some good chances other than goals. They had lots of good scoring chances, and that was fun.”

Part of the fun came when play was stopped.

Less than 10 minutes in, Hill was none too happy about Nick Cousins crashing into his crease and gave the agitating Panthers winger a jab that incited a handful of scrums. During the second period, Matthew Tkachuk let Vegas’ Nic Hague know he wasn’t thrilled about a hit in the corner on Cousins and a collision with Brandon Montour after the whistle.

“If guys are going to come in my crease and try to push me around, I’m going to stand my own ground,” Hill said. “I’m not going to do anything too crazy or get too wild, but, yeah, I’ve got to stand up for myself.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice, back in the final for the first time since 2001, displayed a similarly calm demeanor as he did all the way back in the first round, when his team fell behind 1-0 then 3-1 to NHL-best Boston before winning in seven.

“It’s going to be tight,” Maurice said. “Everybody breathe.”

The Golden Knights are in the final for the second time in six years of existence, five years after making it in their inaugural season. Vegas won the opener in 2018 and lost the series to Washington in five games.

The Panthers are back playing for the Cup for the first time since 1996. Florida got swept by Colorado in that final 27 years ago, 18 months before Tkachuk, the team’s leading scorer this playoffs, was born.

It’s the 66th different matchup of teams in the Cup final in NHL history and the 46th since the expansion era began in 1967-68. This is the first time since Washington-Vegas and just the third time since the turn of the century in which the final features two teams who have never won the league’s championship.