Vegas Golden Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Owner Bill Foley made a bold proclamation in 2016 after he had finalized an agreement with the NHL to bring an expansion franchise to Las Vegas that the team would "make the playoffs in three [seasons], Stanley Cup in six [seasons], no excuses.". It appears that the team's success in their first season (2017-18) even caught Foley off-guard. With a team compiled of expansion draft selections from across the league, Vegas finished first in the Western Conference and marched to the Stanley Cup Finals, falling in 5-games to the Washington Capitals.

The seasons between the inaugural season and the eventual championship 2022-23 season featured more playoff success - including two more trips to the Western Conference final - but included much roster turnover and management of the salary cap. The Golden Knights made a number of moves for star players, including signing Alex Pietrangelo, acquiring Mark Stone from Ottawa, Max Pacioretty from Montreal, and Jack Eichel from Buffalo. To make room for some of those contracts, the team unceremoniously traded the contract of franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to Chicago in 2021 right after Fleury had won the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender. Pacioretty would be later traded to Carolina for salary cap purposes.

Six members of that 2017-18 team (Karlsson, Marchessault, Smith, Theodore, along with William Carrier and Brayden McNabb) got the opportunity to lift the Cup in 2023. Pre-season injuries to goaltender Robin Lehner caused the Golden Knights to cycle goaltenders Laurent Brossoit, Logan Thompson, Adin Hill, and (after acquiring him near the trade deadline) Jonathan Quick through the crease. Brossoit took the crease for the first round series against Winnipeg but suffered a leg injury in the second round series in Edmonton. Adin Hill came on in relief and took the Knights the rest of the way.

The Golden Knights' combatant in the Stanley Cup Final was the Florida Panthers, who were making their second Stanley Cup Final appearance in team history (1996). Matthew Tkachuk led the Panthers with 109 points in his first season, and scored three overtime goals in the Eastern Conference Final against Carolina. Tkachuk fractured his collarbone in Game 3 of the Final and remarkably played Game 4 with the injury. Tkachuk did not play in Game 5, which was the clinching game in Vegas. Golden Knights captain Mark Stone scored a hat trick in a 9-3 victory and received the Stanley Cup from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman post-game.