Golden Knights 1 win away from lifting 1st Stanley Cup after Game 4 win
The Vegas Golden Knights are one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history after holding off the Florida Panthers 3-2 in Game 4 on Saturday night.
Chandler Stephenson led the way for Sin City with a two-goal performance, his second of these playoffs. He set the tone by besting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky off a sweet feed from Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud just 1:39 into the contest.
William Karlsson scored for Vegas in the second period to give the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead, putting an end to his three-game goalless drought.
However, the Cardiac Cats didn't go down without a fight.
Panthers blue-liner Brandon Montour got Florida on the board in the middle frame after his shot went off the skates of Golden Knights defensemen Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore before squeaking past netminder Adin Hill.
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov netted his first tally of the series early in the third period to make it a one-goal game, but that's as close as the Panthers would get.
There was no shortage of fireworks after the final horn sounded.
Tempers flare. Rats are flyin'. A little chaos after the final buzzer. pic.twitter.com/6P0Tbt66us
- Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 11, 2023
Various skirmishes erupted while fans threw plastic rats and trash onto the ice.
The Golden Knights survived an injury scare to star forward Jack Eichel. He briefly exited the contest after taking teammate Jonathan Marchessault's shot to the neck in the final minute of the second period, but Eichel returned in the final frame.
The shots were even at 31 apiece in the contest. Hill stood tall with a 29-save performance.
Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk sat out for large swathes of the third period. Head coach Paul Maurice said the Hart Trophy nominee - who was injured in Game 3 - had to grind through the contest, and that the team opted to play him less in the final frame Saturday to conserve his energy, per The Athletic's Michael Russo.
Maurice added that the Panthers will have to reassess Tkachuk's ailment before Game 5.
Vegas will now have a chance to win the Stanley Cup on home ice Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
The Panthers were down 3-1 in their opening-round series against the Boston Bruins, but they won three straight games to pull off the upset.
Tkachuk is confident the Panthers can capture that lightning in a bottle again.
"Just go out there, win one game, and force them to come back to Florida," he said postgame, according to team beat reporter Jameson Olive. "That's pretty much the message in this room.
"Same thing with Boston. ... We just thought short term and get it back to Florida then, and we're going to do the same thing now."
The Golden Knights made it to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season in 2018 but fell to the Washington Capitals in five games. Karlsson, McNabb, Theodore, Marchessault, Reilly Smith, and William Carrier were all on that roster.
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