The Florida Panthers lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 9-3 on Tuesday night in game five of the Stanley Cup Finals. Florida’s season draws to a close following a cinderella run to the final. Vegas, meanwhile, celebrates their first Stanley Cup in their sixth year of existence.
Game Recap
The game saw its first action on the scoresheet around halfway through the first period. Vegas received a power play chance, but could not score. Shortly after, Florida would also have a power play. Rather than being the ones to score, Vegas would score on an odd man rush goal by Mark Stone. Under two minutes later, the Golden Knights stretched the lead to two. Nic Hague picked up a loose puck to continue applying pressure. At the end of one, the Knights led 2-0.
Early in the second period, Ekblad scored to breathe life into the Panthers. Halfway through the period, Vegas would not only put an end to Florida’s momentum, but to their season. Alec Martinez sniped top shelf, 3-1. Reilly Smith scored from a beautiful Karlsson feed, 4-1. Mark Stone’s second goal of the game, 5-1. With two seconds left, Michael Amadio scored, 6-1.
The game was all but over heading into the third period. Ivan Barbashev scored a rebound goal to make the game 7-1. The Panthers would not give up as they gave one last push in the third period. Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett scored back-to-back goals to bring the game to 7-3. With momentum, Florida pulled their goalie. This would only result in a Mark Stone hat trick for the 8-3 lead. Nearing the final minute, Nic Roy scored the last goal of the season 9-3. Vegas left no doubt in their Stanley Cup win.
FL Teams Star of the Game
In what was a very disappointing game, Aaron Ekblad came to play. He provided a goal to keep Florida in it early on. Not only this, but in a non contest he managed to post a +1.
Up Next
Florida’s front office will head back to the drawing board this offseason with plenty of work to do. The next major event will be the NHL Draft, taking place on June 28th and 29th.