Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and started an early blitz that went after the NHL’s best postseason goaltender, and Adin Hill continued his stellar play in the Vegas Golden Knights’ impressive 7-2 win over the Florida Panthers during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final on Monday night.
Hill made 29 saves and Marchessault had an assist to finish with three points in the win. His 12 postseason goals set a Golden Knights record, and all came after the first round.
Brett Howden scored twice for the Knights, who also saw goals from Alec Martinez, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio. Six players had at least two points for Vegas.
All 18 Knights skaters were on the ice for goals of even force and their nine scorers in the first two games are a Stanley Cup Finals record. The team’s seven goals also tied a franchise mark for a playoff game.
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Brett Howden #21 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates Monday night’s 7-2 win over the Florida Panthers with his team. (Sean M Haffey/Getty Images)
The rush was too much for Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who was tagged out 7 minutes, 10 seconds into the second quarter with Florida trailing 4-0. It was the fifth time in 12 games that the Knights had chased down the opposing goaltender.
Matthew Tkachuk and Anton Lundell scored both of the Panthers’ goals.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS TAKE MATCH 1 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINAL THANKS TO 5 DIFFERENT SCORERS
Hill once again brought his fighting and A-game to the table. He stopped Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway in the first, and later in that period he hit Tkachuk, who was in his net, with his blocker and then sliced him with his stick.
Sam Reinhart #13 (left) of the Panthers and Brett Howden #21 (right) of Las Vegas battle during the third period of Game 2 of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Final. (Sean M Haffey/Getty Images)
The Knights dominated early on, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Marchessault and Martinez. It was Vegas’ third straight game with a power play goal, the first of its kind since Christmas week.
The Panthers lost their biggest and toughest defense early in the game when Radko Gudas was injured on a clean hit by Las Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev. Gudas came off the ice at 6 minutes and 39 seconds and did not return.
That was one of several great successes for Barbashev, the Golden Knights’ biggest trade deadline acquisition and Stanley Cup champion with St. Louis in 2019. Barbashev broke Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard’s sternum during the playoffs on last year, also in a clean hit.
Vegas had his own scare late in the second period when Tkachuk nailed Jack Eichel in the right shoulder, but Eichel came back in the third and set up Marchessault’s second goal.
Brett Howden #21 of the Vegas Golden Knights punches his teammates after a goal in the third period against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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With Monday’s victory, Vegas controls the series with a 2-0 lead, and teams with that same lead in the Stanley Cup Final are 31-3 in the expansion era. The Panthers will try to change history beginning with Game 3 on Thursday in Sunrise, Florida.