Game 1 of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final gets underway in Las Vegas on Saturday night at 5pm PT as VGK hosts the Florida Panthers. To set the scene, our Tony Cordasco and Locked On Panthers host Armando Velez preview the series. The discuss storylines, players to watch, intangibles and they have predictions for the series. The Golden Knights and Jack Eichel, in his first playoff and Cup series, meet red-hot Florida, led by Matthew Tkachuk, who many believe is the new face of the NHL. They are the leading scorers for their respective teams coming in the Cup Final. VGK has beaten Winnipeg, Edmonton and Dallas to advance to their second Final in their first six years of existence. Florida will be upset-minded, as the #16 seed defeated top-seed Boston, Toronto, and swept the Hurricanes in four games to win the Eastern Conference championship. We discussed the goalie battle between Adin Hill, who models his game after the great Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo, and Sergei Bobrovsky of Florida, who is returning to the form he displayed in winning two Vezina Trophies. Among the players to watch for VGK aside from Eichel and Hill are William Karlsson, who has 10 goals in the playoffs and former Panther Jonathan Marchessault. Tony's X-Factor is Ivan "The Great" Barbeshev, who has 15 ponts in the playoffs in 17 games. He has done it quietly. Tony also likes Barbeshev as a Conn Smythe darkhorse. Whichever team wins the series will be celebrating its first Stanley Cup Championship.


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