One last scoring chance for the Panthers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Golden Knights turned into a brawl that involved everyone — including Vegas goalie Adin Hill — after the horn sounded.
Fans from the FLA Live Arena even started throwing items onto the ice, too.
Florida, with its goalie pulled and on a power play, sent the puck toward Hill with about 1.5 seconds remaining, but it was redirected toward the boards behind the net.
Then, the Panthers tried to create one more chance, and Matthew Tkachuk snapped a shot that likely wouldn’t have counted, at least according to the clock on the TNT broadcast.
And that’s when the fighting began following Vegas’ 3-2 win that gave it a 3-1 lead in the series.
Defenseman Brandon Montour skated in from the blue line and checked a Vegas player, which prompted Hill to bolt up from the ice, drop his stick and take a swing at Montour — while a cluster of other players gathered around and started shoving.
Behind the net, Florida’s Sam Bennett and Golden Knights center William Karlsson both ended up on the ice, too.
“I kind of felt my helmet get ripped off, and they had six guys on the ice, we had four, so get in there a bit and try and help out teammates,” Hill said postgame, according to the Associated Press. “I don’t know if there’s really a message to be sent. We’re just getting ready for [Game 5] Tuesday.”
While the shoving continued, items from the seats started soaring over the glass and landed on the ice around the players.
“Fans throwing water bottles on the ice — this is embarrassing right now,” one of the TNT broadcasters said.
The Panthers received 26 penalty minutes resulting from the scuffle — 10-minute misconducts for Tkachuk and Montour, in addition to slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct minors against Tkachuk and a charging minor against Montour — while the only penalty Vegas received was an unsportsmanlike conduct call against Hill.
But when Alex Pietrangelo took a delay of game penalty with just 18 seconds remaining, it seemed that a scenario similar to Game 4 — which ended with the Panthers tying the game in the final minutes and winning it in overtime — could unfold again.
“That was no fun,” Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters postgame. “No fun when the puck went over the glass.”
But the Golden Knights killed the penalty for the final seconds of the game, survived the brawl and moved within one game of clinching the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title as the series shifts back to T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
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