Which team did the Vegas Golden Knights defeat in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final?

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.

Vegas won the best-of-seven championship series four games to one, earning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. The Golden Knights had entered the NHL only six seasons earlier, making their rapid rise one of the league’s most notable expansion-team success stories.

The Final ran from June 3 through June 13, 2023. Vegas controlled the series early, winning the first two games at home and later closing it out with a 9–3 victory in Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena. That nine-goal performance set a record for goals in a Cup-clinching game. Florida’s lone victory came in Game 3, when Carter Verhaeghe scored in overtime.

The Panthers were Eastern Conference champions, while Vegas represented the Western Conference. A frequent confusion is to associate Florida with the 2024 championship; the Panthers lost to Vegas in 2023 but defeated Edmonton one year later. Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the 2023 playoffs’ most valuable player.