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Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and started an early blitz that chased the NHL’s hottest postseason goalie, and Adin Hill continued his stellar play in the Vegas Golden Knights’ stunning 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final 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, with all coming 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 even-strength goals and their nine goalscorers through the first two games are a Stanley Cup Final 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 victory over the Florida Panthers with his team. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The attack was too much for Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was removed 7 minutes and 10 seconds into the second period when Florida was down 4-0. It was the fifth time in 12 games the Knights have chased the opposing goalie.
Matthew Tkachuk and Anton Lundell scored the Panthers’ two goals.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS TAKE GAME 1 OF STANLEY CUP FINAL THANKS TO 5 DIFFERENT GOAL SCORERS
Hill once again brought his feistiness as well as his A-game. He stopped Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway in the first, and later that period hit Tkachuk, who was in his net, with his blocker and then slashed him with his stick.
The Panthers’ Sam Reinhart #13 (left) and Vegas’ Brett Howden #21 (right) fight during the third period in Game 2 of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Final. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Knights were dominant early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Marchessault and Martinez. It was Vegas’ third game in a row with a power-play goal – the first such stretch since Christmas week.
The Panthers lost their biggest, toughest defenseman early in the game when Radko Gudas was injured on clean a hit by Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev. Gudas left the ice 6 minutes and 39 seconds in and did not return.
That was one of several big hits by Barbashev, the Golden Knights’ biggest trade-deadline acquisition and a Stanley Cup champion with St. Louis in 2019. Barbashev broke the sternum of Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard during the playoffs last year, also on a clean hit.
Vegas had its own scare late in the second period when Jack Eichel was nailed in the right shoulder by Tkachuk, but Eichel returned in the third and set up Marchessault’s second goal.
Brett Howden #21 of the Vegas Golden Knights fist bumps his teammates after a third-period goal against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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With the win on Monday, Vegas controls the series with a 2-0 lead, and teams with that exact lead in the Stanley Cup Final are 31-3 in the expansion era. The Panthers will try to buck history beginning with Game 3 on Thursday in Sunrise, Florida.
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