Every year when a new Stanley Cup champion is crowned, all eyes are on who will lift hockey’s greatest prize ‘second.’
Which player with an inspiring story will be chosen by the winning team’s captain to kiss the Cup first?
Well, Tuesday night in Vegas, it wasn’t just one player but six that were given the honour by Golden Knights captain Mark Stone.
The remaining six “misfits” from the 2017 expansion draft — Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and William Carrier — were the first players to lift the Cup.
“I’d be lying if said I didn’t think about it coming to the rink today,” Stone told Sportsnet’s Gene Principe after the Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5. “But once we had that big lead with a couple of minutes left, I looked at Smitty and thought it meant a lot to hand it to those six guys.”
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Stone said he chose Smith as the first player to receive the Cup from him because the veteran winger has been an assistant captain since the Golden Knights’ inaugural season. But the captain credited all six players for laying the foundation for this championship win.
“Those guys are a big part of the reason why we’re standing here today, creating the culture that is the Vegas Golden Knights,” Stone said. “It’s unbelievable.”
All six players played important roles on the ice in the playoffs, led by Marchessault who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP.
In the clinching win Tuesday, head coach Bruce Cassidy started five of the original Golden Knights for the opening face-off and Smith scored the eventual game-winner on assists from Karlsson and Theodore.
“We don’t get here without them,” Alex Pietrangelo told Sportsnet’s David Amber and Elliotte Friedman after the win. “They kept this team going and here we are.”
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