Golden Knights vs. Capitals: Full highlights from a thrilling Game 1

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Washington Capitals 6-4 in an unbelievable Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night. Check below for full highlights, recap and more.

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Final, indeed. What a game. It was the best of the postseason so far, and it’s not close. If there was any doubt how high-key intense and insane this series was going to be, or how entertaining it would be outright, that was squashed with a four goal first period.

Actually, all doubt should have been eliminated with the opening ceremony the Vegas Golden Knights put on. They literally tried to turn it into a heavyweight title bout with the addition of legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer. We simply needed to see every possible celebrity sitting rinkside with their face pressed against the glass to complete it. Somewhere, Drederick Tatum was dreaming of fustigation and Moe Szyslak contemplated stealing a Fan Man costume, but we digress.

Let’s recap some Game 1 action. After a marvelous introduction, Vegas had to start things off right. It would only be fitting to take an early lead, which is exactly what happened eight minutes into the first frame. Colin Miller got it started off with a powerplay goal that completely fooled Caps goaltender Braden Holtby, mostly because he was screened by his own man.

Things got crazy after that. Washington tied it with just over five minutes to go on a sick and beautiful deflection by Brett Connolly, Nicklas Backstrom gave them the lead less than a minute later on a busted defensive effort by the Golden Knights, and then (!) William Karlsson tied it up again for Vegas at the 18:19 mark.

Second frame? Next verse same as the first. With the game leveled at two heading into period two, I personally thought the pace would slow a bit. It didn’t as less than four minutes later Reilly Smith notched a beauty for his second point of the night, and then John Carlson for Washington tied it AGAIN at three on an insanely crisp and gorgeous no-look pass from T.J. Oshie.

There were some excellent saves by both Marc-Andre Fleury and Holtby, but neither seemed to be on top of their rebound control game. That held true into the third as well. Also, what other things held true into the third? Scoring. Early and often. Tom Wilson gave the Capitals the lead 4-3 just minutes in, and Ryan Reaves tied it for Vegas a minute and a half later. Tomas Nosek gave the Golden Knights the lead for good seven minutes after at 5-4, then potted an empty netter to win it for the home team.

What else can we say about this unbelievable contest? If you missed it, for shame. Catch replays, the highlights below, order NHL Network. Do what you need to see this contest.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/NHLonNBCSports/status/1001267334466678784

Three Stars

1. Ryan Reaves: First, these were incredibly tough choices. So many names could go in this section. But Reaves had a tying goal, was brutal with the checks all night, and has been fantastic this postseason. As a fourth-liner, he’s made a huge impact for this team. He was also plus-2 with three shots on goal.

2. Tomas Nosek: With the winning goal and the empty-netter, Nosek gets the nod here. He was a plus-3 and had an overall great night that we’d like to see more of. His goals were numbers two and three for him this postseason. He has five points overall through 13 games.

3. T.J. Oshie: Oshie was excellent all game long, netting two assists including that absurd no-looker to Carlson. He also added three shots on goal. He now has 17 points through 20 games for the Capitals.

Next Game

Wednesday, May 30, 8:00 p.m. E.T.

Next: Each NHL Team's Biggest 'What if' Moment

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