April 18: Winnipeg Jets 5, Vegas Golden Knights 1 (T-Mobile Arena)

Coach Bruce Cassidy would later call this playoff opener the Golden Knights’ worst performance of the postseason. Captain Mark Stone looked nothing like himself in his first game in four months coming off back surgery, creating concerns about Vegas’ long-term playoff prospects and making the team a momentary underdog in the series.

April 20: Vegas Golden Knights 5, Winnipeg Jets 2 (T-Mobile Arena)

Stone stormed back in Game 2 of the first-round series, scoring two goals to go with an assist—all in the third period—to pull the Golden Knights out of a 2-2 tie. William Karlsson, Chandler Stephenson and Phil Kessel also got on the scoresheet in a victory that got the Golden Knights rolling.

April 22:Vegas Golden Knights 5, Winnipeg Jets 4 (Canada Life Centre)

In the longest game of the Golden Knights’ postseason, it took a double-overtime goal from Michael Amadio to put the road team up 2-1 in the series. Vegas blew a 4-1 lead by giving up three third-period goals, including the first of four in the playoffs by an opponent with an empty net and an extra skater.

April 24: Vegas Golden Knights 4, Winnipeg Jets 2 (Canada Life Centre)

The Knights’ depth began to wear down the top-heavy Jets, as Winnipeg native Brett Howden scored a pair of goals in front of family and friends. Stephenson assisted on Howden’s first goal and another by Ivan Barbashev, giving the first-time All Star a third straight game with multiple points.

April 27:Vegas Golden Knights 4, Winnipeg Jets 1 (T-Mobile Arena)

Vegas showed off its killer instinct for the first time in the playoffs, stifling the severely beaten-up Jets from the moment the puck dropped, with Stephenson scoring in the opening minute. Cassidy said it was the Golden Knights’ strongest game of the series, but he expected the best was yet to come.

May 3: Vegas Golden Knights 6, Edmonton Oilers 4 (T-Mobile Arena)

Much of the NHL world was picking the red-hot Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, but the Golden Knights shocked them with an upset Game 1 win, despite four goals by star Leon Draisaitl. Stone and Jack Eichel had two points apiece to keep up with Edmonton’s star duo of Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

May 6: Edmonton Oilers 5, Vegas Golden Knights 1 (T-Mobile Arena)

Draisaitl and McDavid blew the Golden Knights off the ice, but Stone and Cassidy both stood firm and expressed minimal concern. Four of Edmonton’s goals came on special teams after Vegas committed an uncharacteristic 12 penalties, which the team’s leaders vowed to fix.

May 8: Vegas Golden Knights 5, Edmonton Oilers 1 (Rogers Place)

Goalie Laurent Brossoit went down with a lower-body injury about 12 minutes into a 1-1 game, but Adin Hill stood strong in relief with 24 saves and no goals allowed. Meanwhile on offense, Jonathan Marchessault broke out of a recent slump with his first two goals of the postseason.

May 10:Edmonton Oilers 4, Vegas Golden Knights 1 (Rogers Place)

The Oilers dominated from the start, and Vegas’ frustration boiled over when defenseman Alex Pietrangelo slashed at Draisaitl’s wrist in the final minutes. Pietrangelo received a one-game suspension, the first of his 15-year career, casting some doubt on Vegas’ chances in the series.

May 12: Vegas Golden Knights 4, Edmonton Oilers 3 (T-Mobile Arena)

Vegas built a 4-2 lead late in the second period behind an Eichel- and Marchessault-led offensive outburst, but it looked vulnerable when Keegan Kolesar picked up a five-minute major game misconduct penalty. The Golden Knights stood tall, however, and allowed only one goal in the span to the Oilers’ power play unit, statistically the most efficient in NHL history over the course of the regular season.

May 14: Vegas Golden Knights 5, Edmonton Oilers 2 (Rogers Place)

Edmonton scored twice in the opening three minutes, but Hill stayed perfect the rest of the way in gobbling up a total of 38 saves. Marchessault dispatched the Oilers for good with three goals, which his neighbors celebrated by covering his front yard with hats by the time he arrived back in Las Vegas.

May 19: Vegas Golden Knights 4, Dallas Stars 3 (T-Mobile Arena)

William Karlsson took the team’s postseason scoring lead with his sixth and seventh goals, but it required an early overtime winner by Howden—set up by Stone and Stephenson—to put former coach Pete DeBoer’s new team in an early-series hole. The Golden Knights didn’t play great overall, but in true championship fashion, found a way to win anyway.

May 21: Vegas Golden Knights 3, Dallas Stars 2 (T-Mobile Arena)

The Golden Knights won their second straight overtime game when Stephenson put in a rebound off Shea Theodore wrister. Vegas looked anemic offensively for most of the night until Marchessault, and especially Eichel, began pushing aggressively in the third period.

May 23: Vegas Golden Knights 4, Dallas Stars 0 (American Airlines Center)

Officials ejected Stars captain Jamie Benn after a dirty hit on Stone in the opening minute, and the play seemed to energize the Golden Knights, who scored three first-period goals. They chased Stars goalie Jake Oettinger out of the game, while Hill’s star turn continued with his first official shutout of the postseason.

May 25: Dallas Stars 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2 (American Airlines Center)

Dallas staved off elimination with an early overtime goal by Joe Pavelski. Karlsson and Marchessault each scored their team-leading eighth goals of the postseason, but it wasn’t enough in a tightly contested affair.

May 27: Dallas Stars 4, Vegas Golden Knights 2 (T-Mobile Arena)

In its first truly troublesome performance since the playoff opener, Vegas looked lethargic and out of sync in front of a boisterous home crowd desperate to catch a closeout game. DeBoer claimed all the pressure was on the Golden Knights after the Stars narrowed their series deficit to 3-2.

May 29: Vegas Golden Knights 6, Dallas Stars 0 (American Airlines Center)

Cassidy would go on to call this series clincher the team’s best game of the playoffs, as the likes of Pietrangelo and fellow defenseman Alec Martinez completely shut down the Stars’ offense. Karlsson scored twice, and Marchessault chipped in another goal in a highly anticipated showdown that was never close and sent the the Golden Knights to the Western Conference championship and into the Stanley Cup Final.

June 3: Vegas Golden Knights 5, Florida Panthers 2 (T-Mobile Arena)

The Golden Knights were unbothered by the Panthers’ attempts to fluster them with physical and chippy play, instead outclassing the Eastern Conference Champions. Stone, Theodore, Marchessault and defenseman Zach Whitecloud each had highlight-worthy goals.

June 5: Vegas Golden Knights 7, Florida Panthers 2 (T-Mobile Arena)

Vegas blew out Florida and forced the second-period pulling of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who came into the series as the Conn Smythe Trophy favorite as the playoffs’ most valuable player. The Panthers, meanwhile, couldn’t really crack Hill, who posted back-to-back big-time performances to start the series.

June 8: Florida Panthers 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2 (FLA Live Arena)

The Golden Knights controlled most of the game but allowed a 6-on-5 goal in the final three minutes, and then a game-winner to start overtime. Cassidy, Stone and Pietrangelo all bemoaned not finishing the right way and vowed to fix it going forward.

June 10: Vegas Golden Knights 3, Florida Panthers 2 (FLA Live Arena)

Florida pulled Bobrovsky for an extra skater at nearly the exact same time it did in the game prior, but Vegas’ defense proved up to the task this time despite playing 4-on-6 for the final 17 seconds. Tensions flared afterwards, as the Panthers started winging punches once Hill turned away their final shot on goal.

June 13: Vegas Golden Knights 9, Florida Panthers 3 (T-Mobile Arena)

Stone notched the first hat trick in a Stanley Cup-clinching game in 101 years, and Eichel added three assists in the highest-scoring game in franchise history to help claim the trophy. Somewhat surprisingly, Marchessault was held without a goal in the blowout, but his team-high 26 points were enough to secure the Conn Smythe nod before he became the third Golden Knight to lift the Cup behind Stone and alternate captain Reilly Smith.

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