NHL Stanley Cup Final 2023: Top Comments Following Panthers vs. Golden Knights Game 1

The Vegas Golden Knights opened the 2023 Stanley Cup Final with a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers powered by a trio of third-period goals.

The Knights put more goals past Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky than any team had since the opening round of the postseason. Five Vegas players scored goals, and 10 skaters contributed at least one point in the winning effort.

Vegas captain Mark Stone detailed the team's mindset to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

"We don't change anything," Stone said. "We stick to the program. We stick to what makes us successful. We don't get rattled."

Florida does not need to overreact to the Game 1 loss, and head coach Paul Maurice provided some honest comments on where his team needs to be heading into Game 2, per The Athletic's Michael Russo.

"We lost the first game in the Boston series," Maurice said. "Well, we got a little better. Then we lost two more, got a little better. Everybody just f—ing breathe. … You're tight; I'll loosen you up a little bit."

Vegas should come away satisfied with its Game 1 effort.

The Knights put four goals past the NHL's best goalkeeper this postseason, finished the win off with an empty-net goal and shut out the Panthers in the final period.

But the most memorable moment of Game 1 was Adin Hill's stunning second-period save on Nick Cousins.

"I guess that's the kind of stuff you dream of when you're growing up, making that big save," Hill told TNT, per USA Today's Mike Brehm. "It was nice. I was just kind of desperation. I just reached out with my stick and got a piece of it."

Hill turned away 33 of the 35 shots the Panthers threw in his direction, and at least for one game, he outplayed Bobrovsky, who made just 29 saves on 33 shots.

Hill's fantastic save lit a spark on the Vegas bench, as Stone noted to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

"That was definitely a momentum swinger for sure," Stone said. "That got the bench energized. It kind of opens up your eyes a little bit too. Maybe we weren't playing great to start the second, but that save kind of turned it around for us and got us going in that period."

Shea Theodore put Vegas ahead for the first time in Game 1 after Hill's save, but the big offensive swing came in the third period, when Zach Whitecloud, Stone and Reilly Smith scored.

Vegas took full advantage of its home ice in Game 1. If it does so again on Monday, it will go to Florida with a comfortable advantage.

The Panthers got off to a strong start when Eric Staal's short-handed goal opened the scoring, but they made some errors that can be fixed ahead of Game 2.

Florida totaled 46 penalty minutes compared to Vegas' 18, which led to seven power-play opportunities for the Knights.

"We've got to learn with the penalties. It's too many," Staal said, per The Athletic's Michael Russo. "You can't take that many penalties this time of year and expect success offensively. It's tough. It's tight out there. I think we can learn from some of that, and we will."

The Panthers will be fine if they perform better in Game 2, and they might even come away from Nevada with the series tied.

Bobrovsky, who entered the Stanley Cup Final as the Conn Smythe Trophy favorite, summed up how the Panthers should feel after the Game 1 defeat, per Rosen.

"It's a long series, lots of hockey ahead of us," Bobrovsky said. "We play, we learn and we move on."