Game 5 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals. Mark Stone scores a hat trick and the Vegas Golden Knights win their first Stanley Cup. Life is good as fans sing “We Are The Champions.” Strangers hug each other, jump for joy, and drink in the “Night” song as the Golden Knights are crowned number one in the world.
The game was nothing short of hilarious, with Vegas beating the Florida Panthers 9-3. After winning their last game in a close 3-2 victory, Vegas needed something to ease the tension and secure a decisive win, and that's what they got in Game 5, as their captain sparked the team's first-ever championship.
But it wasn't just the championship that mattered in this game. It was Stone's hat trick that won the championship. Las Vegas wouldn't have made it this far without the Winnipeg native on the team. That was especially true on that fateful night of June 13, 2023, when his hat trick changed the course of hockey for the Golden Knights. Here's the definition of the most cherished achievement in sports:
A hat trick is when a player scores three goals in a match. It's a rare achievement that boosts a player's performance and their team's score. It's also an absolute nightmare for the opposing team, who will find it difficult to win the match due to this accolade.
So did the Panthers. They needed to win that fateful game. They had a tough loss at home and the momentum was in their favor. Unless they won at T-Mobile Arena, they were not going to win the Stanley Cup Finals.
Things got even worse considering Sergei Bobrovsky was so shaky in the playoff series that Mark Stone scored three goals (including an empty-net goal), the Vegas Golden Knights were world champions, and everyone at Toshiba Plaza was cheering and drunk.
But there's another hat trick associated with a hockey legend: the Gordie Howe hat trick, in which a player scores a goal and an assist during a game and then gets involved in a brawl. It's based on the Detroit Red Wings Hall of Famer's infamous feat of always getting involved in brawls during NHL games. The first hat trick of this kind was scored on December 22, 1920 (long before Howe was born) by fellow Hall of Famer and Toronto St. Patricks legend Harry Cameron.
