RALEIGH, N.C. — The faces of the Vegas Golden Knights franchise have changed over the past nine years. The heartbeat hasn’t.Tuesday night at the Lenovo Center, they stormed back from an early deficit to win a 5-4 thriller over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. After a bleak start, the “Golden Misfits” who helped build the franchise delivered for one of the biggest wins in its history.Shea Theodore was brilliant, with a goal and two assists. William Karlsson was clutch, scoring to deliver Vegas its first lead midway through the second period. Brayden McNabb had the single most productive game of his 14-year NHL career.They are the only remaining players in the Vegas lineup from the 2017 expansion draft, and nine years later, they’re still the team’s bedrock.“They mean everything,” Golden Knights forward Brett Howden said. “They’re the ones who built this team from the ground up. They built a culture here, starting from the top down, but those guys were here from the start, and they lead the way.”In an organization known for its willingness to make changes, there’s a reason these players have stuck around for nearly a decade. They’re adaptable and low-maintenance. Above all, they’re talented and know how to win.As important as they were in Game 1, helping Vegas become the first road team to win Game 1 of the Cup Final after trailing by multiple goals, their influence on the franchise goes far beyond that. The five Pacific Division titles, five trips to the Western Conference finals, three appearances in the Cup Final, and the 2023 championship. None of that happens without the magical inaugural season in 2017-18, largely fueled by them.For years, the Golden Knights have operated with a win-now mindset as aggressive as the NHL has ever seen, but that wasn’t always the plan. When then-general manager George McPhee built the team through the expansion draft, it was with an eye on the distant future. He used side deals and took on bloated contracts in exchange for a dozen extra draft picks, many of which were first-rounders.The thought was they might be surprisingly competitive at first, but the real window to win was down the road. The players had other plans.Karlsson was a fourth-line player in Columbus who had never reached double-digit goals in a season. He transformed into a rock star in Vegas, scored 43 goals in 2017-18, and seven more in the playoffs.Theodore was a highly touted prospect in Anaheim, but wasn’t a full-time NHL player yet. The Ducks thought it wise to trade him to Vegas to avoid losing Josh Manson and Sami Vatanen, who were unprotected in the expansion draft. Theodore has developed into one of the premier defensemen, receiving Norris Trophy votes three different times.McNabb was one of the four players to attend the live expansion draft. He was the young pup at the time, taking the stage at T-Mobile Arena that night with veterans Marc-Andre Fleury, Deryk Engelland and Jason Garrison. He was an immediate leader on the blue line and has served as an anchor ever since.