Thousands of Golden Knights fans lined the Strip on Saturday for a Stanley Cup victory parade and rally in front of the team's home arena to mark the city's first NHL championship.

For the team that played its first game as an expansion franchise in October 2017 and for tourists in hotel rooms with windows overlooking the parade route in 2023, the event bore echoes of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history five years ago. Guests in high-rises with views of the Strip were awakened by security guards asking to check around windows for guns or other weapons.

Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy played and coached in three established professional sports cities before arriving in Las Vegas.

After the Golden Knights hoisted the Stanley Cup in the team's sixth NHL season - and Cassidy's first as their coach - Sin City has become a two-time titlist in less than a year after. The Las Vegas Aces won the WNBA championship last fall.

"Vegas has become a market just like all the other major ones now, slowly but surely," Cassidy said Friday. "You gotta build some history to do that. And to build history you gotta win championships. So good for the Aces and good for us to get championships."

When the Vegas Golden Knights entered the NHL in 2017 as an expansion team, their owner Bill Foley said his plan was to win the Stanley Cup in six years.

That prophesy was emphatically fulfilled on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, as the Golden Knights blew out the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to win their series, 4-1, and capture the first championship in franchise history.

Chandler Stephenson scored two goals and William Karlsson added what proved to be the game-winner, and the Vegas Golden Knights outlasted the Florida Panthers, 3-2, Saturday night in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.

With the win, Vegas secured a 3-1 series lead and will have a chance to win its first Stanley Cup on Tuesday night at home.

The Florida Panthers' 3-2 overtime win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night cut the Vegas Golden Knights' series lead to 2-1.

Matthew Tkachuk tied the game with 2:13 left in regulation. Carter Verhaeghe scored 4:27 into the extra session to win it and, in the process, pushed the Panthers' overtime record to 7-0 in the playoffs. 

Tkachuk said after two disastrous games in Vegas to open the series, the Panthers felt many didn't believe they could rally in the series.

The 2024 NHL Stadium Series will be held at MetLife Stadium next February as a two-day event featuring four rival teams, the league announced on Saturday.

The New Jersey Devils will host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, Feb. 17 in an outdoor night game. The New York Islanders will host the New York Rangers on Sunday, Feb. 18, at a time yet to be determined.