How the Vegas Golden Knights matched up with Florida this season

The Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers played just twice this season, in January and in March. We have already talked about how the Panthers matched up with Vegas, now let’s do the flip side and talk about the Golden Knights.

How the Vegas Golden Knights matched up with Florida this season

The Golden Knights won their first matchup against the Panthers this season when they won 4-2 on Jan. 12 in Vegas. The Golden Knights won pretty much every battle that night. They led in hits, faceoff wins and special teams. Additionally they had more takeaways and blocked a lot more shots than the Panthers did that night. For the Golden Knights to win this series, they need to be playing like they did on Jan. 12.

Vegas has been relentless this postseason. They have one of the best defenses giving up just 2.65 goals against per game on average, and they also have one of the best offenses with their team averaging 3.65 goals per game, that 6-0 game six against the Dallas Stars might have helped their numbers in that department just a bit.

So far this postseason, the Golden Knights have been led by the great play of Jack Eichel. Eichel has 18 points in 17 games, but even when he is not scoring he is having an impact on the game. His play defensively has been great, and his ability to stick handle into the offensive zone and find a way to create space against his opponents has been fun to watch. This postseason really has been a welcome to the show party for Eichel who is heading to the Stanley Cup Final in his first ever appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Vegas has to be the favorite heading into the final, and for good reason. Everyone is firing on all cylinders right now in Vegas. Jonathan Marchessault has nine goals this postseason, second best only to William Karlsson who has 10. The long time Vegas Golden Knights are showing up like they did during their miracle run to the final in 2018. Additionally, Mark Stone is playing some great hockey as is Alex Pietrangelo. Across the board, this roster has so much talent that is playing great right now. However, the Panthers also made it to the Stanley Cup Final for a reason.

Puck drop for game one is on Saturday, Jun. 3 in Vegas at 8 PM ET.