There will be a first-time Stanley Cup champion in 2023.
The Stanley Cup Final is set, as it will be the Golden Knights and the Panthers going head-to-head to win this year's title.
Florida continues its Cinderella run in the postseason by sweeping Carolina in the Eastern Conference Final. Matthew Tkachuk had two overtime winners in the series and scored the series-clinching goal with less than five seconds left in Game 4.
The Panthers entered the postseason as the No. 16 team, yet knocked off three of the top four teams in the league in the Bruins, Leafs and Hurricanes. It's the club's first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1996 when Florida fell to Colorado in four games.
The Golden Knights punched their ticket to the finals with a win over the Stars in the Western Conference Final. Vegas needed six games to dismantle Dallas and get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2018 when the team lost to Washington.
Vegas owned the best record in the Western Conference, however, after making easy work of the Jets in the first round, the Golden Knights were seen as underdogs against the Oilers and Stars. The club quickly proved doubters wrong and showed why they were the top team in the West.
NHL PLAYOFFS: FULL BRACKET | PREDICTIONS | SCHEDULE
Here's what you need to know about the Stanley Cup Final between the Golden Knights and the Panthers.
Key storyline: Who wins the goaltending battle between Sergei Bobrovsky and Adin Hill?
When the playoffs began over a month ago, neither Sergei Bobrovsky nor Adin Hill were in the crease for their respective teams. Alex Lyon had taken over for Bobrovsky down the final stretch of the regular season for the Panthers, while Laurent Brossoit was manning the net for the Golden Knights.
Flash forward to now, and both Bobrovsky and Hill have played pivotal roles in getting their clubs to the Stanley Cup Final.
MORE: When was the last time the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup?
Bobrovsky has been lights out since taking over the crease partway through the first-round series against the Bruins. The 34-year-old has gone 11-2 in these playoffs with a 2.21 GAA, a .935 SV% and recorded his first-ever postseason shutout. On the Florida side, it's a two-man race for the Conn Smythe between Tkachuk and Bobrovsky.
Hill was thrust into the starting role during the second round when Brossoit went down with an injury in Game 2. Since then, the 27-year-old has lost just one game and also recorded his first-ever postseason shutout in the Western Conference Final. Despite never being an established starter in his six seasons in the league, Hill has helped carry Vegas to the finals.
Both goaltenders have out-dueled elite-level goaltending. Bobrovsky got the better of Linus Ullmark/Jeremy Swayman, Ilya Samsonov/Joseph Woll and Frederik Andersen/Antti Raanta. Hill bested Stuart Skinner/Jack Campbell and then Jake Oettinger.
MORE: When was the last time the Panthers won the Stanley Cup?
Now, the two are going head-to-head in what is expected to be a low-scoring series that will require both goaltenders to bring their A-game.
Golden Knights vs. Panthers playoff schedule, TV channels
| Date | Site | Time (ET) | TV |
| Sat., June 3 | at Vegas | 8 p.m. | TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS |
| Mon., June 5 | at Vegas | 8 p.m. | TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS |
| Thurs., June 8 | at Florida | 8 p.m. | TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS |
| Sat., June 10 | at Florida | 8 p.m. | TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS |
| Tues., June 13 * | at Vegas | 8 p.m. | TNT, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS |
| Fri., June 16 * | at Florida | 8 p.m. | TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS |
| Mon., June 19 * | at Vegas | 8 p.m. | TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS |
* If necessary
Golden Knights vs. Panthers odds
Odds for this series have not been made available. The Sporting News will update this section once those series odds are revealed.
Golden Knights: TBD
Panthers: TBD
Odds provided by Sports Interaction
Golden Knights vs. Panthers prediction
The Golden Knights were consistently one of the best teams in hockey this year. Despite dealing with a multitude of injuries, especially in net, Vegas thrived under the "next-man-up" mentality, and we are seeing one of the most complete teams succeed in the league.
Their back end has the size to play tougher against the Panthers in the defensive zone, and Vegas is getting offensive production from up and down its lineup.
On paper, the Golden Knights are the better team than the Panthers. But if we've learned anything throughout these playoffs, what's on paper does not mean anything when it comes to the games on the ice.
I said after the Panthers won Game 2 against the Hurricanes in overtime that this club officially has the team of destiny vibes, and I'm not walking back on that now. I'm done waiting for Florida to fall off as the team has continued to prove me wrong time and time again.
The Panthers bring the Stanley Cup down to South Florida for the first time in franchise history.
Prediction: Panthers in six.
