The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions for the first time in history.
Florida won a hard-fought Game 7 against the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Monday to take a 4-3 series lead in the Stanley Cup Finals. The win avoided a historic collapse after the Oilers rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to tie the series at 3-3.
After giving up 18 goals in straight losses from Games 4 through 6, Florida’s defense was back to normal Monday night, buoyed by a stellar performance from goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 23 of Edmonton’s 24 shots, including a late Oilers rush that threatened to tie the game.
Edmonton’s McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite his team’s loss. He is just the sixth player in NHL history to win the award on a losing team and the first since Jean-Sébastien Giguère of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2003.
McDavid led the team in points with 42 and set an NHL record for playoff assists with 34, previously held by Wayne Gretzky, but the Panthers overpowered McDavid and the Oilers defense in Monday’s deciding Game 7.
The first period started off to a furious start, with the Panthers earning their first power play of the game less than three minutes into the game on a high-stick penalty by Warren Vogel, which didn’t directly lead to a power-play goal, but Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe broke the scoreless tie just seconds into the game.
Just as Edmonton was back to full strength, Florida’s Evan Rodriguez took a slap shot off the left wall that went wide to the right of the goal, but Verhaeghe swatted the puck out of the air with his stick and it slipped past Stewart Skinner to give Florida a 1-0 lead.
The goal with 15:33 left in the period gave Florida the lead for the first time in the series since winning Game 3, 4-3. But the lead didn’t last long.
The Oilers’ answer
Just 2 minutes, 17 seconds later, Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark tied the game with a breakaway goal off a nice assist from Cody Ceci.
After a Florida turnover, Ceci corralled the puck behind the Edmonton goal line and shot past three Florida defenders onto the ice. Janmark secured the pass in front of the Florida blue line and drove to the goal without a defender in his way. He dribbled past Bobrovsky and fired a wrist shot into the left side of the goal.
The goal tied the game at 1-1 and added to a run that had plagued the Panthers as the Oilers came from behind 3-0 to tie the series. It was Edmonton’s final goal of five straight breakaway chances in the series.
Florida’s defense dominates and helps them win the series.
Edmonton’s chances dried up going into the second period with the score tied at 1-1. The Oilers controlled the puck for much of the second period but struggled to convert that control into scoring chances. Then, just over 15 minutes into the second period, the Panthers turned an Oilers scoring opportunity into one of their own.
Voegel took a shot from the right goal line in a crowded net to put the Oilers up 2-1, but Florida’s Dmitry Kulikov smashed the puck away and the Panthers secured it and started the offensive. Centre Sam Reinhart took advantage on the other end with a slap shot from the right wing that found the back of the net for a 2-1 Panthers lead and a frenzy of Florida’s enthusiastic home crowd.
The second period ended scoreless, and the Panthers entered the third with history won. A team leading in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals had won 13 of the previous 14 chances. The Panthers had won 25 straight games in which they led after the second period.
Bobrovsky thwarts Oilers’ late charge
Bobrovsky and the Florida defense kept the Panthers on their toes. The unit that clinched the series while taking a 3-0 lead once again took control, limiting opportunities to Connor McDavid and holding All-Star Leon Draisaitl in check for much of the third period.
Then McDavid had a golden opportunity to score with 7:05 left in the game, but he lost control of the puck in front of the goal and the Oilers couldn’t beat Bobrovsky.
Edmonton stepped up the pressure on Bobrovsky in the final minutes of the game but couldn’t break through despite multiple chances late in the game.
The Oilers lowered Skinner in the final seconds of the game, but to no avail. Florida celebrated winning the Stanley Cup at home. With the win, the Oilers missed out on becoming Canada’s first team to win a title since the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1993.
Florida was the more physical team in Game 7, racking up 30 hits to Edmonton’s 19. The Panthers held a 17-13 advantage in blocked shots and 12-7 in turnovers, a fitting finish for a team that allowed the fewest points in the league during the regular season.
Panthers break through for first time in 30 seasons
The win was the Panthers’ first in three Stanley Cup Final appearances since their inception in 1993-94. The Panthers first made the Cup in 1996, their third season in the NHL, but were soundly defeated by the Colorado Avalanche. They returned to the finals last season for the first time under head coach Paul Maurice, but lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Panthers did not experience any aftereffects this season after a long playoff run in 2023. They stretched out to 10 wins and 18 points to win the Atlantic Division title and finish third in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.
The win marks head coach Paul Maurice’s first in 26 seasons as an NHL head coach.
In the playoffs, the Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers in six games en route to a Cup Final against the Oilers. Now, for the first time in franchise history, the Panthers are Stanley Cup champions.
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