Golden Knights score 7, top Panthers in Game 2 to extend Cup Final lead

LAS VEGAS -- Jonathan Marchessault is red-hot, and so are the Vegas Golden Knights. If they don't cool off, they could win Stanley Cup as soon as Saturday.

Marchessault had two goals and an assist in extending his point streak to seven games in a 7-2 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Monday.

The Golden Knights lead the best-of-7 series, 2-0. Game 3 is at Florida on Thursday.

"He's coming up big," Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez said of Marchessault. "And it's not just scoring goals, but scoring big goals in big situations."

Marchessault has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his point streak, which is tied for the longest ever by a Vegas player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (Max Pacioretty, 2021; Shea Theodore, 2020).

The forward has scored in six of the seven games and has 12 goals in 12 games after not scoring in the first seven of the postseason.

"Marchessault's got a hot hand right now," Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel said.

Brett Howden also scored two goals, Michael Amadio had a goal and an assist, and Eichel, Chandler Stephenson and William Carrier each had two assists for Vegas. Adin Hill made 29 saves.

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The Golden Knights have 12 goals in the series from nine players, the most goal-scorers by any team through the first two games of a Stanley Cup Final. They have three goals from defensemen (Theodore, Zach Whitecloud and Martinez).

"I think our depth has been a strength all year," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said, "and it is the biggest reason why we're still here, why we beat Winnipeg, Edmonton, Dallas and why we're ahead against Florida. I just feel that we have the best team from player one through 20."

Anton Lundell and Matthew Tkachuk scored for Florida, but Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 13 shots, including two on two shots in the second period. Alex Lyon replaced him and made 12 saves in his first game since April 21.

Bobrovsky has allowed eight goals on 46 shots in 86:56 in the series after giving up six goals on 174 shots in 321:05 across four games against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.

Florida coach Paul Maurice was noncommittal on who would be his starting goalie in Game 3, though he also smiled when he was asked the question.

"We'll sweat about that for the next two days," he said.

The Panthers have lost back-to-back games for the first time since losing Games 3 and 4 at home against the Boston Bruins in the first round. They went 11-1 in their next 12 games, including 4-1 at home, to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 Cup Final have gone on to win the series 90.6 percent of the time (48-5), including 92.7 percent when they win the first two games at home (38-3).

"They're halfway there and hopefully they're thinking about that a little bit as they're coming to Florida," Tkachuk said. "I think that could work in our favor, but we definitely have to prepare and give everything in this next one and just get a little bit of momentum back."

Marchessault gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 7:05 of the first period with a power-play goal from the right face-off circle through a screen from Mark Stone.

Hill had stopped Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway at 4:10, and the Panthers gave the Golden Knights a power play when Ryan Lomberg was called for cross-checking Marchessault at 6:39.

"You know what?" Marchessault said. "They wanted to set the tone with being undisciplined like Game 1, and we set the tone back with scoring that first goal there."

Hill made five saves in a 28-second span during a Florida power play, and 21 seconds after it expired Martinez scored from the left circle to give Vegas a 2-0 lead at 17:59.

Nicolas Roy made it 3-0 at 2:59 of the second period. He skated the puck out of the left corner and went unmarked into the lower part of the left circle before beating Bobrovsky on the blocker side.

Howden extended the lead to 4-0 at 7:10 by scoring off the rush with a move to his backhand before tucking the puck into the net as he was falling toward the end boards.

Bobrovsky was replaced by Lyon following the goal.

He was screened by Stone on the first goal and Florida defenseman Josh Mahura on the second. The defense let Roy get close to the net without checking him on the next goal, and Howden scored off a rush created by a Panthers turnover in the offensive zone.

"We can be a little better in front of our goaltender," Maurice said. "He's been unbelievable for us, so I got him out to keep him rested."

Lundell scored 14 seconds into the third period to make it 4-1, but Marchessault scored his second of the game at 2:10 to give Vegas a 5-1 lead.

Amadio scored on the rush off a setup by William Karlsson to make it 6-1 at 10:33.

Tkachuk cut it to 6-2 at 12:44, but he was given his second 10-minute misconduct of the game at 14:01.

He got his first one for his role in a skirmish after he laid a huge open-ice hit on Eichel at 17:54 of the second. Eichel left the game but returned for the third and set up Marchessault's second goal on his first shift.

He and Cassidy said it was a clean hit.

"I just came in here and regrouped," Eichel said. "It was definitely a big collision. I got my wits back about me and realized I was fine, and just kind of moved on from there."

Howden scored his second of the game on the power play at 17:52 for the 7-2 final.

NOTE: Florida defenseman Radko Gudas (undisclosed) left the game in the first period after taking a hit from Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev. There was no update.