Hat-trick in the triumph of the Vegas Golden Knights: National scare Mark Stone has struck again

class=”sc-29f61514-0 jbwksb”>

He beams when he lifts the 20-kilogram Stanley Cup. It’s a facial expression you don’t often see on Vegas captain Mark Stone (31). He’s always the man with the frown on the ice. One that you as an opponent better not mess with. Because he defends his territory with every fiber of his body and spreads poison. Going where it hurts and his work ethic make up Paradise’s first Stanley Cup winner. “He’s the heart of the team,” fellow striker Jonathan Marchessault, playoff MVP, says of him.

Two back surgeries in nine months

He also led the Vegas Golden Knights’ final 9-3 gala against the Florida Panthers with a hat trick. Stone became only the third player in NHL history to score three goals in the deciding Stanley Cup game. He of all people, who was never considered a great talent and who is said to be a poor skater and a clumsy player, far from any elegance.

He was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 2010 – only in the sixth round. And then had to wait four years before he could get stuck in the NHL. In 2019, he switched to the Vegas Golden Knights, which he has led as captain since 2020. Now Stone has arrived in the hockey Olympus.

“These are the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. Knowing I did it with my 25, 30 best friends makes it even more special,” said the Canadian from Winnipeg, deeply moved in the hour of triumph. The winger turned only returned to the playoffs after a long injury hiatus – he had two back surgeries in nine months, but Stone didn’t give up, he did what he always does: he fought back with a lot of power.

The drama of Kosice

Our national team also fell victim to his winning mentality in 2019. At the 2019 World Cup in Slovakia, Switzerland met Canada in the quarter-finals. First, Stone equalized Sven Andrighetto’s lead. Nico Hischier put the Nati back in the lead and we were already one and a half feet into the semifinals in Kosice. But then Stone took the knife between his teeth and hung up for Damon Severson, who scored 0.4 seconds from time to make it 2-2. In extra time (66th minute), Stone finally finished us 3:2 and brought the national team one of the most bitter defeats of all time.

Mark Stone is now a real bogeyman of Swiss ice hockey. Because since the traumatic experience he caused, we’ve had a quarter-final complex and we’ve never been able to win a knockout match like that again. That was last seen three weeks ago at the World Cup in Riga in the disappointing 3-1 defeat in the quarter-finals against Germany.

Source : Blick