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The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, to win their first Stanley Cup in just their sixth NHL season.
Vegas captain Mark Stone, 31, had a goal in each period to lead the Golden Knights to victory, and became the first player since 1922 to net a hat-trick in a Stanley Cup winning game. Nicolas Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Ivan Barbashev, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio also scored goals for Vegas in Game 5. Stone said as he held the famous trophy: “Unbelievable. I just looked at my teammates’ eyes … One of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. Just to know that I did it with my 25, 30 best friends makes it that much more special.”
Forward Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Marchessault finished the playoffs with 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists).
The Golden Knights also became the seventh team in NHL history to score five or more goals in three or more games of the same Stanley Cup Final series. Las Vegas is also the second-fastest franchise in the league’s modern era to win a championship (the Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup in that franchise’s fifth season in the NHL.)
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