2023 Stanley Cup Final primer: Golden Knights vs. Panthers

DALLAS -- Hockey in June in Las Vegas and South Florida.

The heat is on.

The Vegas Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final by defeating the Dallas Stars 6-0 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center on Monday. The Florida Panthers punched their ticket last Wednesday with a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida.

Here's a quick primer of the Cup Final, which gets underway with Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, SN, CBC, TVAS).

First-time champions

It's the second Stanley Cup Final appearance for each team, but one will become a champion for the first time. Florida was swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 Cup Final, and Vegas lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in 2018.

Eighteen players who dressed for Florida in Game 4 against Carolina never have won the Stanley Cup. Of them, only defenseman Marc Staal has played in the Cup Final (2014, New York Rangers).

For Vegas, 15 of the 20 players that dressed for Game 6 against Dallas never have won the Cup. Center William Karlsson, forwards Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith and William Carrier and defensemen Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore each played in the 2018 Cup Final.

Center Eric Staal and forward Carter Verhaeghe are the only Panthers players in Game 4 who have won the Stanley Cup; Staal did so with the Hurricanes in 2006, Verhaeghe with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020.

The Golden Knights' Stanley Cup champions include defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and forward Ivan Barbashev (St. Louis Blues, 2019), center Chandler Stephenson (Capitals, 2018), and defenseman Alec Martinez and goalie Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings, 2012 and 2014).

Vegas forward Phil Kessel and Florida forward Patric Hornqvist each won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017, but Kessel has been a healthy scratch for 11 straight games and Hornqvist is injured and hasn't played this postseason.

RELATED: [Complete Stanley Cup Final coverage]

Marchessault, Smith vs. former team

Marchessault and Smith got to Vegas in 2017-18, its inaugural season, because Florida didn't want them.

Marchessault scored 30 goals with the Panthers in 2016-17 but was left exposed in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and the Golden Knights selected him. The 2016-17 season was Smith's first on a five-year contract he signed with the Panthers after he had 50 points (25 goals, 25 assists) with them in 2015-16. But along with losing Marchessault, Florida traded Smith to Vegas on June 21, 2017, the night the expansion draft selections were announced, for a fourth-round pick.

Marchessault is Vegas' all-time leader in goals (150), assists (198), points (348) and games played (432, tied with Karlsson). Smith is second in goals (124), fourth in assists (162), third in points (286) and fourth in games played (399).

Marchessault (30 goals, 33 assists) and Smith (16 goals, 47 assists) lead the Golden Knights in all-time playoff scoring, each with 63 points.

'Bob' and Hill

Sergei Bobrovsky, the Panthers goalie, went 4-0 with a 1.12 goals-against average and .966 save percentage in the conference final to extend his and Florida's winning streak to five games.

He is 11-1 with a 1.95 GAA, .942 save percentage and one shutout since Game 4 of the first round against the Boston Bruins on April 26.

Adin Hill, the Golden Knights goalie, is 7-3 with a 2.07 GAA, .937 save percentage and two shutouts in 11 games (nine starts) for Vegas this postseason. He relieved an injured Laurent Brossoit in the first period of Game 3 of the second round against the Edmonton Oilers and has been in goal for the Golden Knights since.

Conn Smythe debate

Bobrovsky has gotten better in each round. He allowed 17 goals in five games in the first round against the Boston Bruins (3.94 GAA, .891 save percentage). He then gave up 10 goals in five games in the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs (1.89, .943) and six goals in four games against the Hurricanes (1.12, .966).

Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk is second in the NHL during the playoffs with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 16 games, leads the NHL with three overtime goals and is tied for the lead with four game-winning goals. Against Carolina, he scored overtime goals in Games 1 and 2 and the game-winner with 4.9 seconds left in the third period of Game 4.

For Vegas, there's center Jack Eichel (18 points; six goals, 12 assists in 17 games), Marchessault (17 points; nine goals, eight assists in 17 games) and forward Mark Stone (15 points; six goals, nine assists in 17 games). And there's Karlsson (14 points; 10 goals, four assists in 17 games), who has the numbers and has been the center who has shut down the top forwards of the Winnipeg Jets, Oilers and Stars at 5-on-5 while also producing offensively.

Hill is a potential candidate too.

Second chance for coaches

Paul Maurice and Bruce Cassidy will coach in the Stanley Cup Final for the second time, each seeking his first championship.

Maurice coached the Hurricanes into the Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings in 2002, but they lost four games in a row after winning Game 1.

Cassidy got the Bruins to the Cup Final in 2019, but lost in seven games against the Blues, who had Pietrangelo and Barbashev.

Maurice ranks 26th all-time in playoff wins (53), and Cassidy is tied for 30th (50). Maurice has the sixth-most postseason victories of any coach to not win the Cup; Cassidy is tied for ninth.