SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — There was no collapse. The Florida Panthers won their first Stanley Cup and took the toughest path imaginable to the title.
Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored goals and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves as the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final on Monday night. It was Florida's third trip to the finals in its 30-year history, having been soundly beaten by Colorado in 1996 and blown out by Vegas, 4-1, last season.
This time, they were on the right side of history, avoiding a historic collapse. The Panthers won the first three games of the series but lost the next three and needed to win Monday to avoid joining the 1942 Detroit Red Wings as the only teams to lose in the Finals after blowing a 3-0 lead in the deciding round.
“It's not what I thought it would be. It's much better,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
It wasn't easy. It wasn't very easy. But it's done.
“It's heavy,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said after completing the first lap of celebration with the Cup.
But it wasn't too heavy, Barkov handed the ball off to Bobrovsky and the celebration began. It took the Panthers until the end to deny Connor McDavid his first title and Edmonton its first Cup since 1990.
McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He wasn't in it for the trophy. It wasn't what he wanted anyway. They were in it for the Cup, and Florida was the team that hoisted it.
“It's not a dream anymore. It's not a dream. It's reality,” said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who was traded to Florida two summers ago with this goal in mind. “It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. … I can't believe how good the last two years have been. I'm so grateful for this team. This is a great place, great players. It's really special to be here.”
Mattias Janmark scored a goal for Edmonton and Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots for the Oilers, but the Oilers couldn't end Canada's title drought, the first time a Canadian-based team has won the Cup since 1993.
Montreal's last title was 30 seasons ago. Since then, Canadian city teams have tried to win the championship seven times but failed: Vancouver in 1994 and 2011, Calgary in 2004, the Oilers in 2006, Ottawa in 2007 and the Canadiens in 2021.
South Florida has now won all four of the major U.S. professional sports leagues, with the Miami Dolphins winning two titles, the then-Florida Marlins winning two titles, and the Miami Heat winning three titles, and now the Panthers have joined that ranks.
Welcome, Stanley. The Panthers waited. Maurice raised the Cup on the bench, eyes tightly shut to contain his emotion, and yelled. General manager Bill Zito didn't even try to stop himself from screaming. And in the stands, Tkachuk's family (his father, Keith, never won a Cup) reveled in the moment, knowing that their last name would soon be inscribed with that of Lord Stanley.
“This is for them,” Tkachuk said.
Bobrovsky was as calm as possible when it mattered most. Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard had a good chance from the right circle with about 14 seconds left in the second period, but Bobrovsky blocked the shot and the puck bounced off the block and went up in the air.
No problem. Bobrovsky picked up his stick and smashed the puck back again. It felt less like the biggest game of his life and more like playing morning pickleball at the park, literally the last line of defense against the Oilers and a piece of history the Panthers had tried so hard to avoid.
Florida led 3-0 in the title series before squandering three chances to win the Cup, losing 18-5 in Games 4, 5 and 6. Edmonton was one win away from becoming just the second team in NHL history to win the Cup after losing its first three games. Toronto did it against Detroit in 1942, and no team has made such a comeback since.
They invited Alanis Morissette, a seven-time Grammy Award winner who was born in Canada and became a dual U.S. citizen in 2005, to sing the national anthem. Hardly anyone could hear her; Oilers fans drowned out her “O Canada,” while Panthers fans drowned out her “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Then Panthers legend Roberto Luongo banged on the ceremonial bass drum. He called out to the fans, “Let's go,” with an extra word added that required a few beeps.
“I can't believe we did it,” Barkov said.
There was a lot of excitement before the match. The stage was set.
And the team emerged in full force.
The Panthers scored their first goal just 4:27 into the game when Evan Rodriguez fired the puck from the left wing and Verhaeghe swung his stick past Skinner for a 1-0 lead, the first time Florida had led since the end of Game 3.
They waited over a week before regaining the top spot, staying there for just over two minutes.
Janmark got behind the Florida defense and hit Bobrovsky's right shoulder to tie the game again with 6:44 to go, ensuring that Game 7 of this finals series wouldn't end 1-0 like the previous 17 games.
The game continued to be that way with plenty of ups and downs, with the Oilers controlling the game for long periods and the Panthers fighting back, until Reinhart scored late in the second period to put Florida up 2-1. The score capped off a crazy stretch in which Florida defenceman Dmitry Kulikov dove into the goal to deny an Edmonton goal seconds before Reinhart beat Skinner. The goal was Reinhart's 67th goal of the season, breaking the Florida single-season record. It was up to the Panthers to break the record.
As of Monday, Florida had an NHL-best 44-0, 3-draw record when leading after the second period this season. In Maurice's two seasons at the helm, the team had an NHL-best 85-2, 6-draw record in those situations.
They slammed the door one last time, and the cup was their reward.
“This is the best moment of my life,” Panthers veteran defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “Nothing beats this.”
