Stone among top performers for Golden Knights in Game 5 of Cup Final

LAS VEGAS -- Who played well in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final? Sometimes it's easy to tell, sometimes it isn't. NHL.com graded the players in the 9-3 victory by the Vegas Golden Knights against the Florida Panthers at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday. Here are the players and trends that stood out the most.

RELATED: [Complete Stanley Cup Final coverage]

Honor Roll

Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights): The Vegas captain scored the first hat trick in a Stanley Cup Final since Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 Final against the Panthers. Stone was also a defensive presence with three takeaways.

Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights): Eichel had three assists, two takeaways and two blocked shots in the clincher. He was also a force on the defensive end, chasing down numerous pucks on the backcheck.

Adin Hill (Vegas Golden Knights): Hill was spectacular again in goal, making timely saves behind a stingy defense. He made 32 saves in another stellar performance.

Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers): Ekblad scored the goal that brought Florida within 2-1 in the second period. He finished with three hits in 21:01 of ice time.

Sam Bennett (Florida Panthers): Bennett had a goal and an assist, six shots and three hits in 20:35 of ice time.

Stock Watch

Original "Misfits" (Up): Reilly Smith scored the game-winner, assisted by William Karlsson and Shea Theodore. In all, five of the six original "Misfits" had at least one point to help deliver the Stanley Cup to Vegas.

Vegas defensemen (Up): They continued their strong offensive play, with Nicolas Hague and Alec Martinez each scoring a goal. Prior to the Cup Final, the Golden Knights had three goals by defensemen. In the Final, the defensemen chipped in with five goals.

Florida power play (Down): The Panthers power play struggled, going 0-for-14 in the series and allowed a short-handed goal in Game 5.

Florida defense (Down):It allowed easy entries into the Vegas offensive zone and could not help goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the critical moments.

Vegas fans (Up): An announced crowd of 19,058, the largest in Golden Knights history, jammed into T-Mobile Arena. They were vocal throughout the game and witnessed the Golden Knights capture their first Stanley Cup championship in history.

What we learned

Depth matters

Throughout the series, it was the Golden Knights overall depth that made the difference. They had 13 different players score in the Stanley Cup Final and in the clincher, 15 players had at least one point. Additionally, they were clearly the fresher team in stretches and it showed in Game 5.

Out of gas

The Panthers' magical run simply ran out of gas and they were too banged up to compete against a healthy opponent. They couldn't stop the Golden Knights and couldn't sustain much offense without the injured Matthew Tkachuk.