Mark Stone’s hat trick, Jack Eichel’s three assists lead Vegas past Florida to clinch Stanley Cup

LAS VEGAS – His Vegas Golden Knights led the Florida Panthers by a goal halfway through Tuesday night’s Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final when Jack Eichel had the kind of shift he will remember forever.

It lasted only 1 minute, 25 seconds, but must have felt like 1 hour, 25 minutes to the gassed Panthers.

It lasted only 85 seconds, but must have felt like 8.5 seconds to the gliding-and-grinding Eichel.

Eichel and linemates Ivan Barbashev and Jonathan Marchessault hemmed Florida’s fourth line in its own zone. The Panthers finally cleared the puck, but Eichel stayed on the ice and ended the shift – and the Panthers’ hopes – by feeding defenseman Alec Martinez for the goal, an elite exhibit of play-extending and play-making by Eichel.

Martinez’s goal opened the figurative flood-gates – the Knights scored four times in the final 9:32 of the second period, cruising to a 9-3 clinching win over the Matthew Tkachuk-less Panthers.

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Former Sabres center Jack Eichel, traded to the Vegas Golden Knights in November 2021, had never appeared in a playoff game until this year. He is now one win from the Stanley Cup.

In its sixth year of existence and second final, Vegas completed a 16-6 postseason, back-stopped by a goalie (Adin Hill) who didn’t play until Game 2 of the second round.

Franchises like the Sabres and Vancouver continue to look for their first Cup and clubs like Toronto (1967), Philadelphia (’75), Edmonton (’90) and Montreal (’93) continue their journey to break long droughts, but the Knights can raise a banner in their arena a few slap shots from the Vegas Strip.

This group of Knights trailed only once in a series (1-0 to Winnipeg in the first round). Over the two-month skate to the Cup, they were the best team.

Eichel had three assists and Knights captain Mark Stone had a hat trick (even-strength, short-handed and empty-net goals).

Here are other Game 5 observations:

The Knights made it 1-0 at 11:52 of the first period on Stone’s short-handed goal.

Stone picked up the loose puck just outside his blue line and led a methodical 2-on-1 break. Stone stick-handled. Stone glided. Stone looked across. And then Stone hit the brakes, forcing Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to commit. Bobrovsky went down, leaving the top shelf available for Stone’s shot.

It was the Knights’ first (and only) short-handed goal of the playoffs.

Stone made it 5-1 late in the second and completed the hat trick with 5:54 remaining.

Eichel’s game nearly started in disaster. On his first shift, a breakout pass by defenseman Brayden McNabb was too hot to handle. The puck went off Eichel’s stick and right to Anton Lundell. Hill stoned Lundell’s breakaway shot attempt.

Eichel was otherwise terrific.

Forty-nine seconds after Stone opened the scoring, Eichel’s curl-and-drag move in the slot ended with a back-handed shot Bobrovsky couldn’t corral and Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague shoved the loose puck across the goal-line.

Eichel received his second primary assist on the aforementioned Martinez goal to make it 3-1 Knights.

Vegas made it 4-1 just 1:45 later (Reilly Smith after a between-the-legs pass from William Karlsson), 5-1 just 5:02 later (Stone’s second, a one-timer that trickles through Bobrovsky’s right arm and body) and 6-1 just 2:43 later (Michael Amadio shoved a rebound past Bobrovsky).

Eichel’s third assistant was on Barbashev’s goal with 11:38 remaining to make it 7-1.

Hill’s best save of Game 5 was with 13:05 remaining when he stopped the Panthers’ Anthony Duclair with a sprawling glove save.

Hill’s Knights teammates on the bench rose and banged their sticks on the boards in appreciation.

What a story Hill became during this postseason. Not only didn’t he start for the Knights early on, he didn’t even dress for a five-game stretch bridging the Winnipeg and Edmonton series.

But Laurent Brossoit sustained an injury in Game 2 against the Oilers and Hill took over.

The Panthers played without top scorer Tkachuk, whose ice-time was limited in Games 2-4 due to what could be multiple injuries.

Tkachuk, who didn’t skate during Monday’s optional practice, entered Game 5 with a team-high 11 goals, 13 assists, 24 points and a plus-12 rating.

Tkachuk’s three-lowest ice-time totals were in Games 2-4 of the Final – 15:57, 17:53 and 16:40. Before that stretch, he had skated more than 20 minutes in 12 playoff games.

Grigori Denisenko made his playoff debut in place of Tkachuk and skated on the fourth time that was a combined minus-9 through two periods.

Former Sabres defenseman Casey Fitzgerald, acquired by Florida via waivers on Jan. 23, was a healthy scratch for the 19th time in 21 playoff games; he played in Game 4 of the Boston first-round series and Game 3 of the Vegas series.

5. Symbolic starting lineup

Knights coach Bruce Cassidy stick-saluted five of the six original Vegas players in the lineup by mixing up his lines to start a forward trio of Smith, Karlsson and Marchessault and defenseman Shea Theodore with his normal partner, McNabb.

Karlsson, McNabb and Marchessault were expansion draft picks and Smith and Theodore were acquired in offseason trades.

Reach Ryan at rohalloran@buffnews.com or 716-849-6133. Follow on Twitter at @ryanohalloran. 

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