Stanley Cup titles never get old for 3-time champ Phil Kessel

Phil Kessel is no stranger to being part of a Stanley Cup championship team.

But the feeling never gets old.

“It’s great,” the Knights forward said Tuesday night on the ice at T-Mobile Arena during the team’s celebration. “Obviously my third time, you know they’re all different. But I’m excited.”

Kessel was part of championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017. The NHL’s all-time ironman has played in 1,064 consecutive regular-season games, including all 82 for the Knights this season.

He hasn’t been in the lineup since Game 4 of the first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets, but was often cited by coach Bruce Cassidy and his teammates as being a vital influence in the locker room and at the practice rink.

The 35-year-old flashed a big smile while enjoying the celebration with his family Tuesday.

“You have to take it in because it’s hard to win,” he said. “You don’t get many chances. Fortunately, I’ve won three, so it’s been a good ride.”

Kessel recorded two assists in four postseason appearances, finishing with a plus-2 rating and five shots on goal. He had 14 goals and 36 points in the regular season.

Reflecting on the Knights’ postseason run, Kessel said it was clear early in the postseason that the team had a chance to do big things.

“You never want to say it’s an easy run, but we had a run where our team was just really good,” he said. “We were a dominant team all playoffs, and we’ve been good all year. When you’re consistently good all year, you know you always have a chance.”

Kessel was playing on a one-year deal with the Knights and will be a free agent. It appears unlikely he will be back with the Knights, but he said after the game he has no plans to retire.

Making history

Forward Mark Stone became the first player in NHL history drafted in the sixth round or later to captain a Stanley Cup-winning team.

He was the 178th pick overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2010 draft.

Stone also became the third player in NHL history to record a hat trick in the Stanley Cup-clinching game, the first in more than a century.

Babe Dye was the last to do it in 1922, two years after Jack Darragh did it in 1920.

Three of the nine players in league history to play in every postseason game for a franchise before winning a Stanley Cup are on the Knights.

William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith have played in each of the 88 playoff games in franchise history.

Three players from the New York Islanders played in all 80 postseason games before the 1980 championship, and three from the Edmonton Oilers, including Wayne Gretzky, played in all 52 before winning the 1984 Stanley Cup.

Only 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, have been the home of a Stanley Cup champion now that Nevada has been added to the list.

Presidential salute

At some point, the Knights will be invited to the White House like all other major sports champions.

On Wednesday, they got a tweet from President Joe Biden.

“Congrats to the Vegas Golden Knights on their first Stanley Cup in just their sixth season,” Biden posted on social media. “The first major professional franchise in such a proud American city. Today, the team and entire community are champions.”

Revisionist history

Knights owner Bill Foley’s prediction that his team would win the Stanley Cup in its sixth year of existence is one of the all-time hot takes.

Before the team took the ice, he expressed what at the time appeared to be a wild prognostication of “Cup in Six.”

His players made that come true, and Foley was feted as a psychic.

But at least one of those players was quick to point out this week the oft-forgotten revision Foley made on that prediction.

“Well, after we lost in the (Stanley Cup Final) after the first year, Bill said, ‘OK, now Stanley Cup in three (years),’” Smith said. “I don’t know if that got published.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.