What I Loved From Game 1 Of The Stanley Cup Final
Takeaways as Vegas takes an early lead in this series...
Vegas knows how to throw a party, and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final provided a tantalizing taste of what could follow if the Golden Knights are able to strike off three more wins.
There were really no surprises on Saturday as the Stanley Cup Final - the flagship event of the entire NHL season, the culmination of a gruelling all-out slog across the regular season and beyond - finally got underway in Sin City.
Matthew Tkachuk continued to be the lovable villain who embraces chaos, and the Florida Panthers just wouldn’t go away until they did.
What Game 1 proved was that the Golden Knights are the better, more equipped of the two teams left standing, and they showed their full force in the third period. After trading blows with the Panthers for the opening two frames of the game, Vegas absolutely took over at the most important juncture of the game and landed a flurry of knockout blows to its opponent.
The Golden Knights not only boast an insane amount of depth, but they are almost impossible to beat when they hold the leads in games, and they have proved to be historically good when they are behind. After giving up the opening goal of the game to the Panthers - scored by trusted veteran Eric Staal (who saw that coming?!) - the Knights combined all of their best qualities to win Game 1 in statement fashion and show that they may well be the one team able to stop the magical tour of destiny that has been the Florida Panthers.
In an opening to the series that had it all, here’s a few things I loved from Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final…
Adin Hill’s Statement Moment
If the Golden Knights go on and lift the Stanley Cup, one crucial play in Game 1 will live on as the defining image from their run.
A minute in to the second period, with the game tied at one apiece, the Panthers were looking to seize momentum early in the middle frame and re-take the lead after executing a sublime tic-tac-toe sequence.
Adin Hill had something to say about that.
The goaltender, who has emerged from the deep depths of NHL obscurity, executed arguably the save of the postseason.
With his body twisted in a pretzel and the net wide open, Hill had a pretty damn good view of Panthers forward Nick Cousin wide open on the doorstep and on the cusp of scoring the easiest goal of his career.
However, in what can only be described as a desperation play to end all other desperation plays, Hill was able to slide back and with the heel of his stick absolutely rob Cousins with a play that will live on forever if Vegas can get the job done.
It was an all-time clutch play, a save that seemed to defy all human physics, at a critical point in the game. You could watch that moment back 50 times and still not be blown away by the intense magnitude of it and what it meant in Game 1. And what it could mean for the rest of the series.
And, in a bizarre twist of fate, Hill’s heroics happened to take place at the same end of the rink in the same exact venue as Braden Holtby’s moment of greatness five years prior. If you remember, Holtby pulled off a similar awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping stick save to break the hearts of Alex Tuch and the Golden Knights en route to the Washington Capitals winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Only sports can throw up such precise historical occurrences.
By the way, I do think Holtby’s save was better because: 1. Tuch got everything on his shot and Cousins’ effort was more of a redirect and; 2. Holtby’s mastery literally changed the entire landscape of that series.
However, there’s no doubt that if Vegas goes on to win the Stanley Cup, then Hill’s robbery in Game 1 will live on forever as an iconic image. Especially in Sin City. He’ll never have to pay for a drink or meal again.
And that would complete what has been a remarkable transformation. As already mentioned, Hill has been one hell of a story to watch unfold this season. Nothing more than a backup at best with the Arizona Coyotes and then the San Jose Sharks, the Knights traded for the 27-year-old in August 2022, sending a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft to the Sharks.
Hill started 25 games for Vegas in 2022-23 and wasn’t even the main guy to start the Stanley Cup Playoffs, only getting a chance when Laurent Brossoit got hurt during the Second Round. From that point on, Hill hasn’t looked back and he’s backstopped the Golden Knights to the cusp of glory with a 8-3 record, a 2.06 Goals Against Average and a .938 Save Percentage.
That save in Game 1, coupled with Hill’s overall performances during this postseason, may well transform his career for the better.
Mark Stone Remains On Brand
I’m working on a bigger piece on this so I won’t spend too much time writing about Mark Stone in this space, but the Vegas Captain doesn’t get enough credit for the all-round elite player he is.
He is without doubt one of the best two-way forwards in the game today, and it shocks me that he still hasn’t won a Selke Trophy in his career. Despite the fact his defensive prowess speaks for itself.
Stone’s game is built on instincts and an incredibly high hockey IQ, and both were on full display for his first goal of the Stanley Cup Final.
Deep in the third period with Florida attempting to clear the zone, Stone showed off everything that is truly great about his game in one highlight-reel sequence. Lurking in the middle of the ice like a hunter patiently waiting for their prey to make the wrong move, Stone pounced on a weak clearance attempt from Matthew Tkachuk to bat the puck out of mid-air, settle it and then go top shelf to make it a 4-2 game and effectively land a knockout blow on the chin of the Panthers.
Words can’t do justice to just how hard it is for Stone to do what he did all at once, but that speaks to how much of a wizard he is when it comes to knocking and swatting pucks out of mid-air. It’s an essential staple of his game. Stone is one of the most intelligent, cerebral players in the game right now, and his goal was as typical a Mark Stone play as you’ll ever see.
Shea Theodore’s Breakout Game
I’ve been a huge Shea Theodore believer for years now, dating back to when he was taken by Vegas in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.
He’s gotten better each year and his status as one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL is well justified. He’s an absolute beast and there was a clear reason why so many pundits were billing Theodore as the X-Factor for Vegas heading into Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
They were right. Theodore had his breakout game, his ‘welcome to the big time’ moment in Game 1, and he was near-on unstoppable.
Per Natural Stat Trick, the Golden Knights owned a staggering 78.5% of the expected goals when Theodore was on the ice at five-on-five in Game 1. That speaks to his utter dominance.
And he impacted the game in all three zones. He logged 20:59 of total ice time while doing a stellar job of beating Florida’s vaunted forecheck, joining the rush, making the simple yet effective plays in his own zone to help with the transition game, and pitching in offensively.
On that latter point, you’ll struggle to witness a nicer goal than Theodore’s in the second period to make it a 2-1 game. It was a huge moment at a critical point, and the end result was more than befitting of the occasion.
Located at the blue line, Theodore showed his high IQ and his natural talent rolled up in one irresistible package to glide past and totally undress Anthony Duclair like he was some sort of elegant dancer in the Nutcracker. I did fear for Duclair’s ankles after that play.
Once in space, Theodore showcased his trademark rocket of a release to beat the previously unbeatable Sergei Bobrovsky with a picture-perfect shot. It was Theodore’s first goal of the Playoffs and it was an absolute beauty.
Depth Matters
If you pop up the hood and look under the surface, all the intricate and in-depth stats will paint a certain picture. But I’m a big believer in that the eye test still matters a lot in modern-day sports and the eye test told me that Vegas’ bottom-six forward group made a big impact in Game 1.
Especially their destructive bottom line of William Carrier, Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar.
That line absolutely dominated against Dallas in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final, and they were the most effective line for the Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday. They drove play, they finished their checks, they got to the dirty areas and they are proving to be a matchup nightmare for most teams in the NHL.
Sure, their impact diminished late in the game but, by that point, they did what they had to do and let their stars take over.
As the Miami Heat are proving right now in the NBA Finals, you need an entire team in order to go the distance and win at the highest level. While the Golden Knights boast heavy hitters in the ilk of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo to name just a few, you need more than that if you are to scale the mountain top and taste euphoria.
You need depth and role players who are capable of stepping up at any given moment and coming through in the clutch. Vegas has that in abundance.
Playing Vegas right now resembles a horror film version of Whac-A-Mole - there’s always someone stepping up to produce. In other words, the Knights have a whole stable of reliable role players they know can come up with sizeable contributions and take over games if needed.
Just look at William Karlsson - a member of the original ‘Golden Misfits’ - who is effectively playing as a third-line center yet he has 14 points (10 G, 4 A) in these Playoffs.
Depth wins in the postseason and that was on full display for the Golden Knights in Game 1 with Reilly Smith and Zach Whitecloud both lighting the lamp. And it may well give Vegas a crucial edge for the remainder of this series.
And One Thing I Didn’t Like…
By this point, we know what the Florida Panthers are all about. They are gritty, they are tough, they are resilient and they’ve proved impossible to beat throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs thus far.
We also know they have a handful of players who love getting under the skin of their opponents, and aren’t shy to lay on the body and revel in some old-school hockey.
Leading the way on that front, of course, is Matthew Tkachuk, who is fast morphing into the star the NHL needs right now.
However, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was a rough one for Tkachuk. He had little impact on the game, his turnover led to Mark Stone effectively icing the game in the third period and his un-finest hour came when he ended the game in the locker room after being given a 10-minute misconduct with 4:24 remaining for punching Vegas defenseman Nic Hague in the face, who had no chance of defending himself given that he was being bear-hugged by Florida veteran Marc Staal at the time.
The Panthers had little chance of clawing their way back into the game at that stage, but any chance they did have was wiped out once Tkachuk was sent to the locker room. You need your very best players on the ice as much as possible and Tkachuk’s moment of overindulgence hurt his team and could have risked a suspension for Game 2.
You don’t want to take away from Tkachuk’s fire and ability to be a pest because that’s what makes him so great, and that is what his game is built on. But, if the Panthers have any chance of beating Vegas and winning the Stanley Cup, they need their best player who oozes swag and attitude on the ice and not in the locker room or in the stands.
There’s a fine line and Tkachuk needs to make sure he doesn’t cross it and ultimately cost his team in the process.
