Golden Knights Shut Down Vegas Strip with Epic Parade

The Las Vegas Strip is usually the place to be on a Saturday night yet when there is a Stanley Cup championship parade rolling through, well, that’s something special.

On Saturday night, the Vegas Golden Knights and their fans shut the Strip down in both directions as the city held a massive parade down Las Vegas Boulevard.

William Karlsson, one of the original member of the Golden Knights, was the star of the show as he slipped on the stage, stripped off his championship t-shirt and tossed it into the crowd.

Then he really got them fired up.

“This guy (Jonathan Marchessault), this effin guy, has been here since Day 1. And you have been here — Day 1. You guys are so amazing,” Karlsson said.

“We played in Arizona the first game. We beat the (crap) out of them. And I had no points, but that’s OK, because Year One, I was pretty (stinkin’) great, but you guys were greater. We’ve been on this journey … we’ve been waiting six long years for this guy to be MVP.”

Yeah, there was some booze involved Saturday night.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW

Aaron Ekblad said “Instagram sucked” a couple days after the Knights beat the Panthers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to earn that parade.

We doubt he was checking it on Saturday night knowing it would be filled with pictures and video of the parade in Vegas.

While no one expected the Panthers to be playing for the Stanley Cup when these playoffs started but that does not mean there is not tremendous disappointment in failing to win the thing.

These opportunities do not come around all that often — and the Panthers know it.

— Speaking of Ekblad, he will need shoulder surgery and says he expects to miss the start of training camp.

— Matthew Tkachuk fractured his sternum during Game 3 of the Final yet kept coming back. Until he could come back no more.

— The Panthers are now looking ahead with the NHL Draft next week and the free agency period opening July 1. What’s next for these Panthers?

— It is tough to say goodbye but the Panthers had to do just that after losing in Vegas.

— Don’t forget to subscribe to the FHN YouTube Channel RIGHT HERE to see all of the videos from the Panthers’ offseason all in one place.

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Not only is there a ton of video following Game 5 from the likes of Paul Maurice, Sergei Bobrovsky and Sasha Barkov, but there is a lot of exit day video from Aaron Ekblad and Matthew Tkachuk as well.

Thanks again for watching these all season long. There is more coming. Stay tuned.

NHL NEWS/NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

One veteran NHL defenseman is now a free agent as the Vancouver Canucks took a bath in buying out the contract of Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

— There may be some teams looking to make a move for San Jose star defenseman Erik Karlsson. Are the Panthers one of them? Don’t think they are, but people are talking about it.

— Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery admits he may have misread his team in their opening-round series loss to the Panthers.

— Who do the oddsmakers have the Montreal Canadiens taking with the fifth overall pick at the draft?

FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK

• June 26: NHL Awards, Nashville
• June 28-29: NHL Draft, Nashville (Florida has picks in Rounds 2, 4, 5, 6 & 7)
• June 30: Buyout period ends
• July 1: Free agency opens, noon
• Mid-September: Training Camp, South Florida
• Mid-October: Start of 2023-24 Regular Season