The last time an NHL championship series game was played at T-Mobile Arena, Chandler Stephenson lifted the Stanley Cup as a fourth-line player on the Washington Capitals.

Five years later, Stephenson, now as a core member of the Vegas Golden Knights, assisted on the team’s first goal of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final as Vegas’s first-line center.

As Stephenson was about to carry the puck behind the net, he slid a deceptive backhand pass right onto the blade of Jonathan Marchessault’s stick as Marchessault was crashing the far side of the net. Marchessault fired the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky. As he skated to the corner boards to celebrate, he pointed to Stephenson to acknowledge the fantastic pass.

Marchessault gets Vegas on the board pic.twitter.com/OcfSG0uZhs

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 4, 2023

The goal tied the game 1-1 late in the first period. The Golden Knights would go on to take Game One of the Stanley Cup Final, 5-2.

The goal was Marchessault’s 10th goal of the postseason and his eighth in the last eight games. Stephenson now has 15 points in 18 playoff games, registering eight goals and seven assists. Stephenson’s six five-on-five goals ranks him tied for fifth amongst all playoff scorers.

Stephenson’s biggest goal of this year’s playoffs was his overtime game-winner in Game Two of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars. Stephenson scored on a huge rebound to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 series lead.

Stephenson, whom Brian MacLellan dealt in a salary cap dump to the Golden Knights for a fifth-round pick, became an NHL All-Star for the first time during the 2022-23 season. He posted a career high in assists (49) and points (65).

Stephenson registered seven points (2g, 5a) in 24 games during the Capitals’ Stanley Cup run.

Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk/RMNB

This content was originally published here.