LAS VEGAS — Here are three takeaways from the Golden Knights’ 9-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena:
1. McCrimmon gets last laugh
It’s not far-fetched to think Kelly McCrimmon was on the hot seat entering this season. After all, players don’t last in the Knights’ organization after back-to-back subpar seasons, so why would it be any different for a general manager?
But winning the Stanley Cup is vindication for McCrimmon, who has been vilified by a section of the Knights’ fan base.
Sure, he can come off as condescending at times. Some of his bigger moves, such as bringing in Robin Lehner, backfired. And he was the bad cop who traded away fan favorites Marc-Andre Fleury and Nate Schmidt.
McCrimmon also landed captain Mark Stone in a franchise-altering trade in 2019 and plucked Chandler Stephenson out of Washington. He added key supporting pieces such as Alex Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez, Ivan Barbashev and Adin Hill over the years, and was bold enough to trade for Jack Eichel in 2021.
And he correctly recognized that Pete DeBoer’s message would not be effective after the coach exhausted all of his psychological tricks at the end of the 2021-2022 season, then pounced when the perfect replacement (Bruce Cassidy) landed in his lap.
McCrimmon might not win a popularity contest with Knights fans or the media, but he built the deepest team in the NHL and deserves to be commended for his work.
2. What a shift
For almost two minutes of the second period, the Knights overpowered Florida in the offensive zone, manhandling the Panthers along the wall and in front of the net.
Considering the circumstances, it was the greatest shift in Knights franchise history.
Leading 3-1 after defenseman Alec Martinez’s goal midway through the period, the Knights’ fourth line won the ensuing faceoff and hemmed Florida in its own zone for nearly a minute with its physical play.
The Knights were able to change their forward line and defensive pair on the fly and continued to apply pressure. Eventually, the sequence ended with Reilly Smith burying a no-look, between-the-legs pass from William Karlsson for a 4-1 lead.
Florida forward Colin White and defenseman Josh Mahura were left exhausted and stayed face down on the ice for several seconds as the Knights celebrated.
The 1:45 shift sapped all the belief from the Panthers, who already were without leading scorer Matthew Tkachuk and had nothing remaining in the emotional tank the rest of the way.
3. Pouncing on Panthers’ mistakes
The Panthers’ aggression throughout the series was their undoing, mostly in the form of bad penalties. But it showed up in another way Tuesday.
With their season on the line and nothing left to lose, the Panthers were careless at the offensive blue line throughout the first period as they took chances looking for the first goal.
The Knights capitalized on Florida’s mistakes and grabbed a 2-0 lead as a result. Mark Stone stole the puck from Carter Verhaeghe along the wall, leading to a short-handed goal at 11:52 that opened the floodgates.
Less than two minutes later, Eichel found room on the right wing after a bad pinch by Panthers defenseman Marc Staal, and Nic Hague eventually cleaned up the rebound for a two-goal lead.
The Knights also had a handful of other scoring chances in the period that were the result of turnovers near the blue line by Florida.
