After winning Saturday's Stanley Cup Final opener, the Golden Knights know they need to stay composed and not retaliate when the Florida Panthers try to ruffle their feathers. In the first game of the series, won by VGK 5-2, the Panthers had 48 penalty minutes and VGK had 16 themselves as the game careened out of control at times. There were several scrums, most in front of the Golden Knights net. Emotions spilled over for the Cats when Matthew Tkachuk punched VGK's Nic Hague while being held by teammate Anthony Duclair. That penalty resulted in a game misconduct, but Hague and VGK refrained from retaliating. The Golden Knights had a 3-goal period for the third time in the playoffs. It was the 10th time in the post-season VGK has erupted with three or more goals in a period. For VGK, two defensemen contributed - Zach Whitecloud and Shea Theodore (his first of the playoffs) - scored goals. Former Panthers Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith scored goals. And, captain Mark Stone hit in a puck in a goal that was challenged for what was borderline high stick move. Adin Hill continued to play well - he is 8-3 now with a 2.06 goals against average and a .938 save percentage. He had an acrobatic save that robbed Nick Cousins of a goal in the game. VGK's Jack Eichel had a couple of assists and now leads his team with 20 postseason points. Faceoff time Monday is at 5pm before the series shifts to South Florida for Games 3 and 4.


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