RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 Only three players have been around for all nine seasons of the Vegas Golden Knights. This is the third trip to the Stanley Cup Final for William Karlsson, Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb, and the thrill is still there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same feeling as Year 1,\u201d Karlsson said.<\/p>\n
That one ended in defeat, but it set the perennial expectations at championship or bust, and Vegas hoisted the Cup in Year 6 in 2023. Eager for another parade on the Las Vegas Strip, the original Golden Knights wasted no time making an early impact in Game 1 at Carolina.<\/p>\n
Karlsson and Theodore each scored, and McNabb had the first three-assist performance of his NHL career in the 5-4 victory on Tuesday night. The Golden Knights leaned on their longest-tenured players to erase another multigoal deficit and will keep relying on them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re calm,\u201d said coach John Tortorella, who has only been in charge since late March. \u201cThe foundation of our team, the guts of our team, has been through this before. … Those guys kind of lead the way by not panicking. They don\u2019t say much, they just play, and I think other people follow behind them. I think that\u2019s so important this time of year.\u201d One reason the Golden Knights did not look this dominant during the regular season was Karlsson\u2019s lengthy absence because of an undisclosed injury. He was out from early November until the start of the second round.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned not to take anything for granted,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t always just a straight line. Some minor setbacks. But I always have the mind to come back for playoffs, and I\u2019m very happy to be able to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Karlsson getting back allowed Mitch Marner to shift to his more natural right wing from center. Karlsson has six points and Marner 15 in the 11 games since.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s super fun to play hockey, and I\u2019m happy to be getting a lot of minutes and help the team,\u201d Karlsson said.<\/p>\n Shea Theodore has stepped up when needed<\/strong><\/p>\n The Golden Knights went into the season with a giant void on their blue line, with No. 1 defenseman Alex Pietrangelo unlikely to play again because of a chronic hip injury. Former coach Bruce Cassidy said during the \u201923 title run that he knew Pietrangelo was good but came to appreciate the do-everything, all-around game up close.<\/p>\n Theodore stepped into that role in Pietrangelo\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n \u201cShea\u2019s game this season has just added a completely different layer than what we were used to because he\u2019s always been a great puck-mover, always been a very good offensive defenseman,\u201d general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. \u201cShea has become a penalty killer. He never killed penalties prior at all. He\u2019s on the ice when it\u2019s 6 on 5 against, where in the past he would not have been. And I\u2019m really proud of him, to be honest with you. I think he\u2019s really grown into it.\u201d<\/p>\n Tortorella praised Theodore for bouncing back in Game 1 after getting \u201cspanked\u201d on Carolina\u2019s opening goal 25 seconds in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t bother him, and he probably plays one of the better games,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cHe just played. I think it\u2019s a really good lesson for all of us to see.\u201d<\/p>\n Theodore not only scored Vegas\u2019 first goal after falling behind 2-0 but delivered a textbook shot-pass to Brett Howden for a goal in the third period.<\/p>\n \u201cHis vision is unbelievable,\u201d said Howden, whose 11 goals leads the postseason. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t even looking at me, but I feel like he knew that I was going there and he made an unbelievable pass there. I just had to chip it in.\u201d McNabb has been a solid defender in the league for more than a decade. Keeping the puck out of the net, while guarding and hitting opponents, is his primary job. He doubled his assist total this postseason on Tuesday night, after having just three in 15 games over the first three rounds. Theodore cracked, \u201cHe\u2019s an offensive guy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy partner did most of the work on all of them, really,\u201d McNabb said, crediting Theodore. \u201cBut, yeah, the guys made great plays, and it\u2019s nice to chip in offensively when I can.\u201d<\/p>\n Vegas has brought in plenty of talent since its overachieving inaugural season, including captain Mark Stone, top center Jack Eichel and Marner. But there is still a deep reverence for the original Golden Knights, including Reilly Smith, who was traded and reacquired and had been playing until Karlsson returned.<\/p>\n \u201cThey mean everything,\u201d Howden said. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones that built this team from the ground up. They built a culture here, starting from the top down. But those guys were here from the start, and they lead the way. They\u2019re unbelievable leaders in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 Only three players have been around for all nine seasons of the Vegas Golden Knights. This is the third trip to the Stanley Cup Final for William Karlsson, Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb, and the thrill is still there. \u201cIt\u2019s the same feeling as Year 1,\u201d Karlsson said. That one ended … Continue reading Original Vegas Golden Knights make an early impact in the Stanley Cup Final<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1512491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-06 12:40:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1512491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1512492,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512491\/revisions\/1512492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1512491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1512491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1512491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWilliam Karlsson returning has changed everything<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nBrayden McNabb flashes unusual offensive touch<\/strong><\/p>\n