SUNRISE, Fla.--Chandler Stephenson won the Stanley Cup at the Vegas Golden Knights' expense five years ago.
Now, he's on the verge of winning it with them after scoring two goals in a 3-2 victory against the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.
Vegas needs one more victory in the best-of-7 series to win the Cup heading home for Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"There's a lot of guys that have been in this position before and I think that's something that has benefitted us and everybody's going to be ready," Stephenson said. "It's one win away from a lot of dreams for a lot of guys."
Stephenson lived the dream in 2018 with the Washington Capitals when they defeated the Golden Knights, who were in their inaugural season, in five games in the Stanley Cup Final.
That experience feels like whirlwind now to the forward, who was a 24-year-old rookie at the time.
"It was just kind of the whole year, first year in the NHL, first playoff run, first kind of everything," Stephenson said. "It was a pretty cool experience and it just happened so fast not having any expectation and it seemed a lot quicker. Now, you see how hard it is, the toll it takes, the grind, the everything. So, it's different in a lot of aspects."
Stephenson's role also is different. He played mostly on the fourth line for Washington and did not have a point in the 2018 Cup Final. He's grown into a valuable offensive contributor since being traded to Vegas on Dec. 2, 2019, and has five points (two goals, three assists) in the Cup Final centering a line with Brett Howden and Mark Stone. He has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in 21 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after establishing NHL career highs with 49 assists and 65 points (16 goals) in 81 games during the regular season.
"He was always this good he's just getting a chance to play and make mistakes and be creative," said Devante Smith-Pelly, who played on the Capitals' fourth line with Stephenson in 2018. "I definitely knew he was this good, I think the rest of the guys did as well. It's funny because he still makes the same plays he did when we played together it's just a difference of playing 18 minutes compared to 10 and getting more of those chances. I'm really happy for him."
Stephenson relishes the opportunity he's gotten with Vegas and being counted on to produce offensively. He'd gone four games without scoring before breaking through Saturday. After the Golden Knights let an opportunity to take a 3-0 series lead slip away in 3-2 overtime loss in Game 3 on Thursday, he was determined to be a difference-maker in Game 4.
"I think we just didn't want to lose," he said. "We wanted to push as best we could, try to take their fans out of it. I thought we did a lot of good things last game and just wanted to continue that tonight and just try to have a killer instinct."
First, Stephenson took a pass from defenseman Zach Whitecloud and beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky between the pads on a breakaway to give Vegas a 1-0 lead 1:39 into the game. Then, Stone set up Stephenson for a one-timer from between the circles that clanked in off the right post to increase the Golden Knights' lead to 2-0 at 7:28 of the second period.
"It's a pretty special feeling to score in the Stanley Cup Final," Stephenson said. "It was a great play by 'Whitey' on the first one and a great play by 'Stoney' on the second one. We wanted to just come here and, obviously, win two, but to get a split was the next best thing."
Stephenson was in this same position with Washington in 2018 when it led 3-1 in the Cup Final and were able to close out the series with a victory in Game 5 in Vegas. His smartphone lit up with texts from members of the 2018 team on the fifth anniversary of that victory Monday.
"Every year since it's happened, somebody's put a picture, a video or something in the group and it just kind of gets everybody talking again," he said. "It's kind of cool that we have that."
Now, he's a win away from doing it again with the Golden Knights. Over the next two days, he can share what he learned from his 2018 experience with them as they prepare for Game 5, even if that experience came against some of them.
"That's kind of done with," Stephenson said. "… It's more of the same I guess how guys describe the mindset you need and just kind of what to expect."
One of six players remaining with Vegas that played against Stephenson in the 2018 Final, forward Reilly Smith is just glad he's on the Golden Knights' side this time.
"I'm not hiding that," Smith said. "He's a huge player for us, scores big goals."
