Congratulations, Vegas. I can’t believe your Stanley Cup drought has finally ended. It feels like just a few years ago your team was founded, managed to ascend to a Cup Final through the power of community, diversity, and depth, but it was actually six five years ago already! Time flies! I can only imagine what your fans are feeling.
But in all seriousness, it is insanely impressive what the Golden Knights have accomplished in their short existence. They’ve experienced almost every combination of playoff defeat (missed in 2022, first-round exit in 2019, third-round exits in 2020 and 2021, fourth-round loss in 2018, and a Cup win this year! No second-round losses yet!), have won their division three times and their conference twice, already, and as mentioned several times so far in this short post, now have a Stanley Cup championship. It’s really something, and like most fanbases in the NHL, I’m extremely jealous. Why can’t I have nice things too?
It’s weird how underrated the Golden Knights are. Not sure if it’s because of the division they play in, their relatively new-ness, or because people are in denial that their relentless and hyper-aggressive pursuit of the best players available can actually work. Maybe it’s because they missed the playoffs last year that some thought their window was suddenly closed. That made sense to me, because I was also in denial that Jack Eichel was a winner. But also, they were incredibly injured in 2021-2022. This year, not so much… except for the goalies but we’ll get there.
A few things about the post-Cup celebrations. Jonathan Marchessault earned the Conn Smythe Trophy against the very team that gave him away. How’s that for a dish served cold? I was very happy he won too, because it avoided having yet another disgruntled former Buffalo Sabre traded into a situation where they instantly carried a team to a Cup and won MVP honors. Of course, it was close — Eichel had the playoff scoring lead at the end of the run — but thankfully, it wasn’t another Ryan O’Reilly deal. (Aside: it was worse in 2019, when the Sabres were still awful. Now they’ve got hope, so it wouldn’t even have hurt as much anyway.) I didn’t hate seeing Jack raise the Cup. I wish it could have been in Buffalo in 2023, but alas.
The other note is regarding the handoff. After Captain Mark Stone and his scarf raised Vegas’ first championship trophy, he passed it off to Reilly Smith. He in turn gave it to Marchessault, and then William Karlsson. After that, Brayden McNabb, Shea Theodore, and finally, William Carrier. Not exactly OGWACs, nor the teams apparent “leaders,” but it was still a perfect sight to see. These six were the remaining “original misfits,” those who were also on the 2018-19 roster and have therefore been in Vegas since day one. What a fantastic tribute, and how lucky were we to see this before every one of them inevitably moved on.
 Playoff Series |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 3, 2023 | FLA 2, | VGK 5 | |||||||
| June 5, 2023 | FLA 2, | VGK 7 | |||||||
| June 8, 2023 | VGK 2, | FLA 3 | OT | ||||||
| June 10, 2023 | VGK 3, | FLA 2 | |||||||
| June 13, 2023 | FLA 3, | VGK 9 | !!! | ||||||
| VGK defeats FLA: 4-1 | |||||||||
| Prediction: Panthers in 6 ☓☓ | |||||||||
How about the hockey? Well, in hindsight, it wasn’t all that close. Vegas blew out Florida by a whopping aggregate score of 26-12. Florida barely scraped by in overtime of Game Three, and only after Vegas failed to capitalize on an early power play. Game Five was insane. I was travelling for work, so unfortunately I could only put on a radio feed, but after that first intermission, the Knights never seemed to stop scoring. Indeed, once they hit 7 (I think), it was the first time in franchise history they’d done so at home. Once they hit 8, it was a franchise record goals for line. At 9, it became the most scored in any Cup-clinching game. Just absurd. But like, couldn’t get 10 guys? Come on.
Having Mark Stone get the hat trick was a great story. The man is seriously broken. In fact, he may just want to retire now and save his health. If there was ever a performance to call it a career on, that was it. Speaking of, Adin Hill — Vegas’ fourth string goalie — had one hell of a performance himself, outdueling the previously impenetrable Sergei Bobrovsky. And no, he wasn’t carried by the Knights defense, although that did help. It was apparent throughout the run that he made some absolutely momentum-maintaining saves. Sure, you could argue another goalie could have done that too, but it wasn’t another, it was Adin Hill, probably the most undecorated goaltender to lead a team to a Cup since Jordan Binnington, or hind-sight Matt Murray.
What can I say about Florida’s run? It was magical, and hopefully they earned some life-long fans. I thought their magic would carry through the to final, but as we learned after the series, HOLY SHIT was that team broken. They lost momentum in their 10-day gap, sure; I would have expected them to at least heal a little bit. Some high(?)lights: Aaron Ekblad broke a foot against Boston; Radko Gudas played on a high ankle sprain; Sam Bennett had an oblique injury; Brandon Montour had a torn labrum; and most crucially, Matthew Tkachuk played Game Four with a broken sternum. Jesus H. Christ. If I’d known that beforehand, I obviously would have chosen differently when I made my predictions.
Because it really showed. Vegas made quick work (no pun intended) of the Panthers, who now face many, many questions. Are they back among the league’s best after a momentary dip in the standings? Will they be fully healed by October? Will Bobrovsky be the guy in goal next year, or will Spencer Knight or Alex Lyon steal his spot again? It’s an intriguing team to be sure, and now that their fun run is over, I’d love to see them fall into the basement so another Atlantic team can take their spot cough cough.
Seriously, Buffalo has to compete with Boston, Toronto, Tampa, and Florida just to get into the playoffs. It’s so cool how Florida teams have won the last four Eastern Conference Champions. I love it.
That said, mark my words: in 2024, the Buffalo Sabres will make the playoffs. In a divisonal spot. No wild cards, just straight to the post-season.
That’s fin. on the 2022-23 season. As always, I can’t wait until October. As I mentioned in the first of this series, there’s a legitimate hope in Buffalo, for the first time since maybe 2006-07. Let’s get it going!
And so he spoke... 