After a long layoff for both teams, the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights opened the 2018 Stanley Cup Final with one of the most memorable Final games in history. For the first time ever in the championship round, a single game featured four different lead changes as the Golden Knights defeated the Capitals 6-4 to take a 1-0 series lead.

The puck dropped about 30 minutes after the originally scheduled start time due to the flashy Vegas pregame festivities. After Michael Buffer introduced both starting lineups, the Golden Knights were awarded the game’s first power play six minutes in. Vegas capitalized when Colin Miller blasted a shot from the point past Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 7:15 of the opening frame.

Washington responded seven and a half minutes later when Brett Connolly deflected a shot past Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the score 1-1. Just 42 seconds later, Niklas Backstrom was able to slide a backhander past Fleury to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead with 4:37 left in the opening period.

Vegas was able to tie to score before the period ended when William Karlsson sent a wrist shot past Holtby to make it 2-2 with 1:41 left in the first, then retook the lead when Reilly Smith scored his third goal of the playoffs to make it 3-2 Vegas at 3:21 into the second period. Washington tied the score again with a John Carlson goal at 8:29 of the second.

The score was knotted at 3-3 going into the final period of regulation. Just 1:10 into the third, Tom Wilson gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead with his fourth goal of the playoffs. Just 1:31 later, however, a questionable backcheck by Vegas’ Ryan Reaves on Capitals defensemen John Carlson left him all alone in front of the Washington net. The puck found him and he was able to sneak it past Holtby to tie the score at 4-4.

Seven minutes later, Vegas defensemen Shea Theodore made a quick play to keep the puck in the offensive zone and passed it to Tomas Nosek at the side of the net. Nosek one-timed it into the net to give Vegas a 5-4 lead with 10:56 left in regulation. After a half a period of frantic play on both sides of the ice, Nosek added an empty net goal to seal the victory for the Golden Knights.

The team that has won Game One of the Final ended up winning the Cup in each of the last six years. Game Two of the series will take place Wednesday night in Vegas at 7 pm Central Time and can be seen on NBCSN.