LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JUNE 03: Alex Pietrangelo #7 of the Vegas Golden Knights is shoved by Matthew Tkachuk #19 of the Florida Panthers during the second period in Game One of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on June 03, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
T-Mobile Arena playing "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's entrance theme late in the third period summed it up: Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was a mini-wrestling match.
After countless scuffles between the Florida Panthers and Las Vegas Golden Knights in Saturday's series opener, it was ultimately the latter who landed more blows en route to a 5-2 win.
Florida opened the scoring 10 minutes into the opening period when Eric Staal finished a polished wraparound goal despite the side being shorthanded.
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The Panthers captured the momentum after Staal's opener, but they couldn't capitalize despite recording more shots on goal. Matthew Tkachuk's long-range effort three minutes later had banged the post.
Instead, it became a back-and-forth affair when Jonathan Marchessault equalized for Vegas with two minutes to go before the second period, continuing his fine run of form in the playoffs.
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Goals from Vegas' Shea Theodore and Florida's Anthony Duclair in the second period sent the game to 2-2 heading into the third, but that's when it went awry for the latter.
The Golden Knights proceeded to score three goals in the third, with Tkachuk's ejection with 4:24 remaining serving as the icing on the cake.
Tkachuk and teammate Sam Bennett were both issued misconduct and roughing penalties, which transpired after Florida had fallen to a 4-2 deficit. Zach Whitecloud scored a long-range shot for the go-ahead score before Mark Stone capitalized on a cheap giveaway to drill the Knights' fourth.
Reilly Smith then added the fifth via an empty-netter with under two minutes left to cap off a dominant period of sustained pressure by Vegas.
Vegas finished the game with one fewer shot on goal than Florida (35 to 34), but the Golden Knights leveraged their seven power-play opportunities to score two while the Panthers managed zero on three tries. Florida also got called for 11 penalties that resulted in 46 minutes while Vegas had just five penalties costing 18 minutes.
If the Panthers want to steal Game 2 to send the series to Florida knotted up at 1-1, they'll need to fix their discipline and dramatically reduce their penalties and giveaways, otherwise Vegas will easily exploit them.
“I think there’s areas of our game that were real good tonight, and then areas where we can get better," Panthers centre Staal said. "It’s the first one. We’ll regroup, recover tonight and tomorrow, and be ready for Game 2.”
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice added: “We lost the first game in the Boston series, well we got a little better, then we lost two more, got a little better.”
Game 2 in Vegas is set for Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
