For the first time in their history, the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup.
Florida won a 2-1 thriller against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday to secure a 4-3 series victory in the Stanley Cup Final. The victory avoided a historic collapse after the Oilers rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to even the series at 3-3.
After allowing 18 goals in consecutive losses in Games 4-6, Florida’s defense returned to form Monday night thanks to a stellar performance from goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky stopped 23 of 24 Edmonton shots, including a late Oilers burst that threatened to tie the game.
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid won the Conn Smyth Trophy as the most valuable player in the entire Stanley Cup playoffs, despite his team losing. He is the sixth player in NHL history to win the award against a losing team and the first since Jean-Sébastien Giguère of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2003.
The Panthers stifled McDavid and the rest of the Oilers defense in Monday’s deciding Game 7.
The first period starts in a torrid manner. The Panthers earned the game’s first power play on a Warren Foegele high-sticking penalty less than three minutes later. It didn’t directly convert into a power play goal, but Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe broke the scoreless tie a few seconds after the end.
As Edmonton returned to full strength, Florida’s Evan Rodrigues fired a slap shot from the left wall that missed the wide right net. But Verhaeghe hit the puck in the air with his stick and slipped it past Stewart Skinner to give Florida a 1-0 lead.
The goal with 15:33 left in the period gave Florida its first lead of the series since finishing Game 3 with a 4-3 victory. It was short-lived.
Just 2:17 later, Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark tied the score with a breakaway goal off a sensational pass from Cody Ceci.
After a Florida turnover, Ceci recovered the puck behind the Edmonton goal line, then threw it up the ice through three Florida defenders. Janmark secured the pass in front of the Florida blue line and attacked the net with no defender in his way. He beat Bobrovsky and sent a wrist shot into the left side of the net.
The goal tied the game at 1-1 and added to a trend that plagued the Panthers as the Oilers rallied to even the series from a 3-0 deficit. The goal was Edmonton’s fifth in a row in the series thanks to breakaway opportunities.
Florida’s defense takes over
But those chances dried up as the game entered the second period tied at 1-1. The Oilers controlled the puck for much of the second half, but struggled to convert that control into scoring chances. Then, more than 15 minutes into the second half, the Panthers turned an Oilers scoring opportunity into one of their own.
Foegele threatened to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead with a shot from the right goal line into a crowded net. But Florida’s Dmitry Kulikov knocked the puck away and the Panthers secured it to go on offense. Center Sam Reinhart converted the chance at the other end with a slap shot from the right wing that found the back of the net for a 2-1 Panthers lead, sending an enthusiastic Florida crowd into a frenzy.
The second period ended without another goal, and the Panthers began the third period with history on their side. Teams leading Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final had won 13 times in 14 previous occasions. The Panthers had won 25 straight games while leading after two.
Florida’s defense made sure the Panthers didn’t break the trend. The unit that defined the series en route to a 3-0 lead regained control. The Panthers’ limited search for Connor McDavid continued to keep All-Star Leon Draisaitl in check.
McDavid’s best scoring chance came with 7:05 left. But he lost control of the puck right in front of the net and the Oilers couldn’t get past Bobrovsky.
Edmonton increased the pressure on Bobrovsky in the final minutes or regulation time, but failed to get the puck past the Florida goaltender on several opportunities.
But Edmonton couldn’t tie the game even after pulling Skinner in the final minutes of the game.
Panthers lose after 30 seasons
This is the Panthers’ first victory in three Stanley Cup Final appearances since their inception in 1993-94. They played for the Cup for the first time in 1996, their third year in the NHL, but were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. They returned last season, the first under head coach Paul Maurice, but fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
The Panthers haven’t had any sort of hangover this season after a deep playoff run in 2023. They improved by 10 wins and 18 points to win the Atlantic Division title and finish third in the Eastern Conference in of the regular season.
In the playoffs, the Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games and the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers in six games to reach the Cup Final against the Oilers. Today, for the first time in franchise history, they are Stanley Cup champions.
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