Profile

Introduction

They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expansion team, the Golden Knights are the first major sports franchise to represent Las Vegas. The team is owned by Black Knight Sports & Entertainment, a consortium led by Bill Foley and the Maloof family. Their home games are played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

One of the few expansion franchises to experience immediate success, the Golden Knights qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs in their first four seasons and reached the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season. Their 13 playoff wins en route to the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals are the most for a team during their inaugural postseason run. In 2023, the Golden Knights returned to the Stanley Cup Finals and won their first Stanley Cup championship, defeating the Florida Panthers in five games.

Uknight the Realm (First Stanley Cup Title)

Road to Final

On September 20, 2022, Vegas announced that their gold jerseys would take over as their primary home jersey, as well as announcing a new center ice logo, as part of their "The Golden Age" campaign. The season started off well for the Golden Knights, and it was seen by many as a rebounding year for the team. Players such as Jack Eichel (who was acquired last season from the Buffalo Sabres) and Chandler Stephenson made a huge impact in scoring, giving the team its third Pacific Division title in team history. Qualifying for the playoffs, the Golden Knights were able to beat the Winnipeg Jets, the Edmonton Oilers, and the Dallas Stars in a rematch from 2020, to make their second Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

Realm the Uknight (Against Florida Panthers)

In game one, Florida began the scoring with a shorthanded rush by Anton Lundell and Eric Staal, which the latter scored on a wrap-around attempt, banking the puck in off of Adin Hill's blocker glove.|date=June 2023 Vegas tied the game on a separate power play with Chandler Stephenson setting up Jonathan Marchessault's wrist shot beating Sergei Bobrovsky. In the second period, Shea Theodore's long range shot found its way past Bobrovsky, giving Vegas a 2–1 lead. With ten seconds remaining and a faceoff in the Golden Knights zone, the Panther's Anthony Duclair picked up a loose puck and fired a wrist shot past Hill to make it 2–2. In the third period, the Golden Knights led a rush into the Panther's zone with a shot by Ivan Barbashev deflecting off the glass back to Zach Whitecloud who scored for Vegas to make it 3–2. Later in the period, an errant clear by the Panthers got knocked down by Vegas captain Mark Stone who shot it past Bobrovsky for a 4–2 lead. Florida challenged the play as Stone's stick could have been above his shoulders, which would have been a stoppage of play. Florida was unsuccessful in their challenge and assessed a minor penalty. With frustrations boiling over for Florida, both Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett were called for misconducts for attempting to fight some of the Golden Knights. Reilly Smith then sealed Vegas' victory with an empty net goal to make it 5–2. The victory broke Florida's road-winning streak at eight games.

In the first period of game two, the Golden Knights scored first on the power play as Jonathan Marchessault shot through a screen to beat the Florida goaltender over the shoulder. Later in the period, with Vegas in possession in the Florida zone, Alec Martinez shot through Josh Mahura's legs and the puck went to the top of the net for a 2–0 lead. During the second period, Nicolas Roy gave Vegas a 3–0 lead, shooting the puck under Sergei Bobrovsky's blocker. Brett Howden then forced Florida to swap goaltenders scoring forehand-backhand on Vegas's thirteenth shot. Following a hit on Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and Ivan Barbashev both exchanged misconduct penalties for fighting after the whistle. In the third period, the Panthers ended Adin Hill's shutout bid as a defensive turnover by the Golden Knights ended with Anton Lundell's goal. Vegas regained their four-goal lead as the Golden Knights pushed into the Panthers' zone and an all-alone Marchessault wristed a shot past Alex Lyon. Michael Amadio then provided the sixth goal for Vegas, deking out Lyon for a 6–1 lead. Tkachuk then brought the lead back down to four as his wrist shot beat Hill on the right side. Later in the period with Florida releasing their frustration, Vegas gained a power play. During the power play, Howden's second goal of the game ended any hopes of a Florida comeback, scoring to give Vegas a 7–2 lead, also the final score of the game.

Back in Florida for game three, Brandon Montour began the scoring for the Panthers in the first period as his shot through traffic beat Adin Hill over the shoulder. Vegas was able to tie the game during a 4-on-3 power play when Jonathan Marchessault's shot got tipped in by Mark Stone. In the second period, Vegas gained another power play, during which Jack Eichel passed across to Marchessault who beat Sergei Bobrovsky on the right post for a 2–1 Golden Knights lead. In the third period, with the Florida goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, Matthew Tkachuk scored on a deflection to tie the game 2–2. With the game in overtime, Carter Verhaeghe fired a wrist shot past Hill giving Florida a 3–2 victory and their first win in the Stanley Cup Finals in franchise history.

In game four, Vegas began the scoring 1:39 into the first period as Zach Whitecloud made cross-ice pass to Chandler Stephenson who maneuvered through all Florida defenders and shot the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky. Stephenson continued his scoring into the second period as a pass by Mark Stone found its way to the forward whose wrist shot beat Bobrovsky for a 2–0 Vegas lead. Following soon after, William Karlsson picked up Nicolas Hague's rebound shot and gave the Golden Knights a 3–0 lead. With less than four minutes remaining in the period, Florida defenceman Brandon Montour shot the puck at the net and it deflected off Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore past Adin Hill to cut Vegas's lead to two goals. Florida then cut their deficit to one goal as the Panthers rushed into the Vegas zone, Montour backhanded a pass to captain Aleksander Barkov whose short-side shot got past Hill. Vegas maintained their 3–2 lead including fending off a late penalty as Hill stopped 29 of 31 shots to give the Golden Knights a 3–1 series lead.

In game five, the Golden Knights began the scoring on a shorthanded rush as Mark Stone outwaited Sergei Bobrovsky to beat him on the glove side. The Golden Knights doubled their lead as Jack Eichel's shot bumped over Bobrovsky's shoulder and got covered, but was quickly poked away. With the free puck, Nicolas Hague scored for Vegas. The Panthers made it 2–1 early in the second period as Nick Cousins forced a turnover in the Vegas defensive zone and passed it to defenceman Aaron Ekblad whose long range shot made its way into the net. The Golden Knights recovered their two-goal lead as a stretch pass by Alex Pietrangelo made its way to Eichel who then dropped a pass to Alec Martinez and he shot it past Bobrovsky. Reilly Smith soon gave the Golden Knights a 4–1 lead as the Panthers were maintaining a defensive position with one player without a stick and Smith converted on a quick rebound. Stone's second goal made it 5–1 as he led a rush into the Panthers' zone, shooting the puck between Bobrovsky's pads for his second goal of the game. Michael Amadio extended the Golden Knights lead to 6–1 with two seconds remaining as he pushed the puck towards Panthers goaltender and as he was pushed into the net by a Panther defenceman, the puck found its way under Bobrovsky and into the net. In the third period, Vegas pushed the game into a rout, scoring their seventh goal of the game when Ivan Barbashev scored. Florida brought their deficit down to five when a quick shot by Sam Reinhart hit the top corner past Adin Hill. Sam Bennett then dropped Florida's deficit to four goals as his long range shot was deflected into the net. With more than six minutes remaining in the game, Florida head coach Paul Maurice opted to for an empty net. However, Stone scored on the empty net to complete his hat trick, making it 8–3. Nicolas Roy potted Vegas's ninth goal of the evening with 1:02 remaining to seal the Golden Knights victory and their first Stanley Cup.

Jonathan Marchessault was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs. Vegas became the second fastest team to win the Stanley Cup as an expansion franchise following the Edmonton Oilers in 1984. The win gave the state of Nevada and the Las Vegas metropolitan area its first ever major (North American “Big Four”) professional sports championship and the first ever championship for a North American professional sports team that was founded in the 21st Century.

Team's Name

The team's name includes "Knights" as a homage to the Black Knights of the United States Military Academy, Foley's alma mater, and because knights were, according to Foley, "the epitome of the warrior class". Foley had hoped to name his team the Black Knights, but dropped that plan after encountering resistance from federal officials. Foley was unable to call the team the "Vegas Knights" because the London Knights owned the "Knights" name in Canada.

"Golden" was included in the name because gold is, as Foley stated, the "No. 1 precious metal", and because Nevada is the largest gold-producing state in the country. "Las" was omitted from the team's name because, according to Foley, residents tend to refer to the city simply as "Vegas", and because a four-word name would have been too long.

The United States Army opposed the team's trademark registration because their exhibition parachute team uses the same nickname; they dropped their opposition after negotiating a trademark coexistence agreement with the team. An objection was also raised by the College of Saint Rose because its sports teams use the same name; the Vegas team's initial trademark application was denied as a result, but was later approved on appeal. The team did clear the name with Clarkson University, which also uses the name Golden Knights.

Retired Number

• #58: (For Honoring 58 victims killed in the October 2017 Las Vegas shooting)
• #99: Wayne Gretzky (Retired by whole NHL Teams)

See Also

• Las Vegas Raiders (NFL)
• Seattle Mariners (MLB): Shared Title Sponsor in their home place (T-Mobile)

• Golden Knight
• Knight

National Hockey League