April 25, 2024
Stone, Whitecloud lead Golden Knights past Panthers to open Stanley Cup final | CBC Sports

Stone, Whitecloud lead Golden Knights past Panthers to open Stanley Cup final | CBC Sports

Zach Whitecloud scored from long range with just over 13 minutes left, after Adin Hill made arguably the best save of the playoffs, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the visiting Florida Panthers 5-2 Saturday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final.

Whitecloud’s goal 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. That combination, plus Hill’s 33 saves, gave Vegas the lead in the series 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.

Original Knights players Jonathan Marchessault and Shea Theodore also scored on Florida’s two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky. Back in the final, they’ll now try to avoid the same result as in 2018, when Vegas beat Washington in Game 1 and lost the next four to fall short of hoisting the Cup in its inaugural season.

Florida had a five-game winning streak snapped, which included four consecutive wins over the Carolina Hurricanes to clinch the Eastern Conference title.

Game 2 is Monday in Las Vegas.

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