The Vegas Golden Knights are in the championship series of the National Hockey League for the second time in the franchise’s six years of operation, ripping the Dallas Stars 6-0 on Monday night to win the Western Conference Finals 4 games to 2.
William Karlsson, William Carrier, and Jonathan Marchessault combined for four goals for Vegas, helping the Golden Knights rebound from a two-game slide that followed a 3-0 lead in the series. Keegan Kolesar and Michael Amadio each scored for Vegas, as the Western Conference’s #1 seed advanced to the finals, another step in a season that saw 51 points and 111 points in the regular season, followed by postseason wins over Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Dallas.
Up next for the Golden Knights will be the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers, a franchise coming off a first-round upset of the #1 seed Boston Bruins, a second-round takedown of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and a four-game sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes. The Panthers will be in their second Stanley Cup Final, having been sweep by the Colorado Avalanche in 1996. Game 1 will be played at T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The 6-0 loss for Dallas was the franchise’s most lopsided since an 8-0 loss in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991. The then-named Minnesota North Stars moved to Texas before the 1993-94 season, rechristening themselves as “Stars” after 26 seasons in the North Star state.