EDMONTON-- The "Golden Misfits" are still alive, still battling for the Stanley Cup.
Three of the originals got the Vegas Golden Knights into the Western Conference Final.
Reilly Smith scored Vegas' first goal, Jonathan Marchessault had a natural hat trick in the second period, and William Karlsson capped it with an empty-net goal to send the Golden Knights into the next round with a 5-2 series-clinching win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Place on Sunday.
"Definitely really proud of that term," Marchessault said of the 'Golden Misfits' nickname. "That's something that we started."
A series against either the Dallas Stars or Seattle Kraken awaits. They play Game 7 at American Airlines Center on Monday. The winner will travel to Las Vegas to start the conference final, the fourth time in six seasons Marchessault, Karlsson, Smith, forward William Carrier, and defensemen Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore have chipped in to lead the Golden Knights into the third round of the playoffs.
But what lies ahead for the Golden Knights is a story for tomorrow. Today it's about a rerun of the "Misfits" mayhem that caught Las Vegas and the NHL by storm in 2017-18.
Back then the Golden Knights were new, fresh, and Marchessault, Smith and Karlsson made up their top line, three castoffs from other teams like the rest of their expansion teammates. That's how they became the "Golden Misfits."
"We were a bunch of nobodies," Marchessault said.
The nickname stuck. T-shirts were made. More merchandise was created. Social media was abuzz. There were people creating "Golden Misfits" handles on Twitter and Instagram. And the Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final in their first season.
All these years later and it's still Marchessault, Smith and Karlsson leading the way Vegas.
"I'm just happy to still be here," Smith said. "I bounced around a lot in the League and this is a great place to play, and hopefully I can play the rest of my career here. If I'm a 'Misfit' for the rest of my career, I'm completely fine with that."
Smith got the Golden Knights started 24 seconds into Game 6, scoring from the right hash marks to give Vegas a 1-0 lead that did not last because Edmonton scored on its first two shots to take a 2-1 lead just 2:43 into the first period.
The second period was all Marchessault.
He scored from the slot at 4:26 off a fortunate redirection pass from Ivan Barbashev to make it 2-2.
He scored at 7:44 from in front, shoveling the puck into the net after Alec Martinez's shot from the left point hit off Stuart Skinner's right arm, popped up into the air and dropped behind the Oilers goalie, basically right to Marchessault, who gave Vegas a 3-2 lead.
And he scored again at 18:36 with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle that beat Skinner clean to make it 4-2.
"That's what goal-scorers do, they end up in the right spots and hang around the net and you're going to get your chances," Karlsson said. "Also, he's shown that he has a pretty good wrister still. Kudos to him, he's a big-game, big-time player. It was a good game to score a hat trick."
It was the first natural hat trick by a Golden Knights player in playoff history. It was Marchessault's second hat trick in the playoffs. He also had one in Game 4 of the second round against the Colorado Avalanche on June 6, 2021.
Marchessault had no goals and two assists in the first seven games Vegas played this postseason, but he had two goals in Game 3 against the Oilers, three assists in Game 5 and then the hat trick in Game 6.
"This was one step in the right direction," Marchessault said. "When you think about it, we're only halfway done to our goal here. There's a lot of work left to do."
Karlsson finished off the Oilers with his empty-net goal to make it 5-2 at 19:21 of the third period.
"Relief, that's what I was feeling," Karlsson said. "Nice to get one goal at least in the series, but huge relief and super happy to move on."
It's no surprise Karlsson was on the ice defending in that 5-on-6 situation. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were on the ice for the Oilers, so Karlsson had to be for the Golden Knights. That's who he is for them, the shutdown centerman, and this series isn't won without him.
" 'Karl' has been unbelievable," Smith said. "Karl has been shutting their best players all series."
Smith isn't taking credit, but he plays on Karlsson's line along with Nicolas Roy. There were times in Game 6 that Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft pulled McDavid off the ice when Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy had Karlsson's line on the ice for a face-off.
"That tells you what they think of William Karlsson," Cassidy said. "They're trying to take away the best player in hockey from our guy."
Karlsson has always been the Vegas' guy. Same with Smith and Marchessault, and for that matter Carrier, McNabb and Theodore.
These misfits are four wins away from getting the Golden Knights back into the Stanley Cup Final.
"We're still kicking," Karlsson said. "It's a pretty cool feeling. Original 'Misfits,' we're still kicking and we're still very proud to wear this jersey."
