WATERTOWN, N.Y. (WWNY) – The Florida Panthers are now Stanley Cup champions for the first time.
Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored goals, Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves and the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final on Monday night.
This is Florida’s third final-round appearance in its 30-year history, having been soundly defeated by Colorado in 1996 and 4-1 by Las Vegas 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, needing to win Monday to avoid joining the 1942 Detroit Red Wings in losing the Finals after blowing a 3-0 lead in the championship game.
It wasn’t easy. It never was easy. But it’s done. It took the Panthers until the very end to stop Connor McDavid from winning his first title.
In other sports news from Monday:
New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz was suspended 10 games by major league baseball after being ejected from a 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs with a foreign object on his hand.
Diaz is the eighth pitcher suspended for a sticky substance since MLB cracked down on pitchers trying to use foreign substances to improve their grip and spin rate in 2021. Three of them were Mets pitchers, including Max Scherzer and Drew Smith last year. Diaz’s suspension will begin with Tuesday’s Subway Series opener against the New York Yankees at Citi Field, unless the pitcher appeals it.
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