Stanley Cup playoffs Day 27: Golden Knights’ misfits send Vegas to conference finals

Five years ago, the Vegas Golden Knights were shocking the hockey world with a run to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season after many had written off that roster before it even played a game. Leading that team was the “Misfits Line” composed of Reilly Smith, William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, the three most notable castoffs whose former teams included them as throw-ins to protect other players. That line combined for 92 goals and 213 points in the regular season, and 20 goals and 58 points in their run to the finals to lead the way that year.

Flash forward to 2023, and they are three of six players left from that original team along with Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and William Carrier, and while they aren’t the biggest names on the team anymore, they’re still making an impact. Marchessault is the franchise’s all-time goals and point leader, Karlsson’s 2017-18 still holds the single-season franchise records for goals and points, and now they’re all chipping in for a big win to advance the team to the conference finals and help maintain a consistently successful team that’s still chasing that elusive Stanley Cup.

It didn’t take long for the action to get started in the game, and it was fast and furious early on. Smith opened the scoring just 25 seconds in to get Vegas off on the right foot, but they got about 31 seconds to enjoy that lead with Connor McDavid tying the game, and then not even another two minutes after that before they found themselves behind thanks to a goal from Warren Foegele. 2:43 in, Stuart Skinner has a goal against on his first shot against and Adin Hill has two on his first two. Not a great start for the goaltending.

The scoring calmed down in the first period after that, and it wasn’t until the second period where we got more goals. When we finally did, it was the Jonathan Marchessault show, as he had the double natural hat trick, meeting both qualifications for the achievement by scoring three unanswered goals and also scoring them in one period. He had two quick ones only 3:18 apart in the first half of the frame and then gave the Golden Knights some insurance in the final two minutes to finish off the hat trick. That chased Stuart Skinner for the third time in the series, and Jack Campbell was in the crease for the third period.