(Paradise) Anthony Duclair scored from the left circle with 10.2 seconds remaining in the second period as the Florida Panthers tied the game 2-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday as the 2018 Final kicked off. Stanley Cup.
Duclair shot straight after a faceoff won by Aleksander Barkov. About ten seconds earlier, their teammate Brandon Montour had hit the post with a slap shot.
The other second period goal came from Shea Theodore of the Knights, midway through the engagement. He hit the target with a long wrist shot at 10:54.
In net lurked Brett Howden, who had been frustrated in a brief breakaway early in the game.
Goals from Eric Staal and Jonathan Marchessault had made it 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Staal of the Panthers scored shorthanded at 9:40.
Marchessault answered at 17:18, on the power play.
Disputing a 100e game in the playoffs, Staal scored by going around the net, following a pass from Anton Lundell.
The streak started when the Knights fumbled on the blue line after William Karlsson retired to the bench for breaking his stick, attempting a slap shot.
The response was set in motion by a breakthrough in the opposing zone of Theodore. He handed over to the right flank to Chandler Stephenson, who sent in the pocket to Marchessault.
Soon after, Ivan Barbashev came close to giving the Golden Knights a priority goal, trying to score similarly to Staal.
About three minutes before Staal’s goal, Lundell had been threatening in the crease, following hard work from Ryan Lomberg (a check against Nicolas Hague and a stick-end pass to Lundell, within a matter of seconds).
Game 2 will premiere Monday night, once again at T-Mobile Arena.
In their only previous appearance in the final round, in 1996, the Panthers were swept by the Colorado Avalanche.
The Knights concluded their inaugural season by going to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2018. However, Washington won in five games.