[6] The Panthers made a large offseason acquisition, trading Jonathan Huberdeau, who led the team in points the previous year, along with MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames for Matthew Tkachuk.

In the first round, the Panthers overcame a 3–1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins, who had set the NHL season records for points and wins, and defeated them in a game seven overtime.

[21] They also acquired goaltender Adin Hill in a trade,[22] re-signed Brett Howden,[23] Reilly Smith,[23] Keegan Kolesar,[24] and Nicolas Roy,[25] and also signed Phil Kessel, a two-time Stanley Cup champion during his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, during free agency.

[26] At the trade deadline, the Golden Knights acquired forwards Ivan Barbashev (reuniting him with Alex Pietrangelo from the 2019 Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues) and Teddy Blueger,[27][28] as well as goaltender Jonathan Quick who was flipped by the Columbus Blue Jackets from the Los Angeles Kings (reuniting him with defenceman Alec Martinez, both two-time Stanley Cup champions with the Kings).

Vegas tied the game on a separate power play with Chandler Stephenson setting up Jonathan Marchessault's wrist shot beating Sergei Bobrovsky.

With ten seconds remaining and a faceoff in the Golden Knights zone, the Panther's Anthony Duclair picked up a loose puck and fired a wrist shot past Hill to make it 2–2.

In the third period, the Golden Knights led a rush into the Panther's zone with a shot by Ivan Barbashev deflecting back to Zach Whitecloud who scored for Vegas to make it 3–2.

[36] In the first period of game two, the Golden Knights scored first on the power play as Jonathan Marchessault shot through a screen to beat the Florida goaltender over the shoulder.

Later in the period, with Vegas in possession in the Florida zone, Alec Martinez shot past Josh Mahura's block attempt and the puck went to the top of the net for a 2–0 lead.

[45][46] Back in Florida for game three, Brandon Montour began the scoring for the Panthers in the first period as his shot from the left circle beat Adin Hill.

In the second period, Vegas gained another power play, during which Jack Eichel passed across to Marchessault who shot past Sergei Bobrovsky into the top-left corner for a 2–1 Golden Knights lead.

With the game in overtime, Verhaeghe fired a wrist shot past Hill giving Florida a 3–2 victory and their first win in the Stanley Cup Finals in franchise history.

[48] In game four, Vegas began the scoring 1:39 into the first period as Zach Whitecloud made a cross-ice pass to Chandler Stephenson, who maneuvered through all Florida defenders and shot the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky.

[50] Stephenson continued his scoring into the second period as a pass by Mark Stone found its way to the forward whose one-timer beat Bobrovsky for a 2–0 Vegas lead.

With less than four minutes remaining in the period, Florida defenceman Brandon Montour shot the puck at the net and it deflected off Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore past Adin Hill to cut Vegas' lead to two goals.

Florida then cut their deficit to one goal as the Panthers rushed into the Vegas zone, Montour backhanded a pass to captain Aleksander Barkov whose fired past Hill from the right circle.

[51] In game five, the Golden Knights began the scoring on a shorthanded rush as Mark Stone outwaited Sergei Bobrovsky to beat him on the glove side.

[70] Marchessault, William Carrier, William Karlsson, Brayden McNabb, Reilly Smith, and Shea Theodore were the only players from the Golden Knights' expansion draft, inaugural season, and 2018 Stanley Cup Finals campaign to remain with the team up until the Stanley Cup victory; this group of players earned the collective monikers "Golden Misfits" and "Original Misfits".

[96] In Canada, this was the ninth consecutive Stanley Cup Finals broadcast by Sportsnet and CBC Television in English, and TVA Sports in French.