Sunrise, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - For the first time in the franchise's 30-year history in the National Hockey League, the Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions.
The Panthers managed to hold off a reverse sweep at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night, as they win the Stanley Cup following a 2-1 win in Game 7 of the Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
It was everything anyone could've asked for in a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Drama, heroics and a nail-biting end to a stellar 2023-24 season of hockey.
The game's opening goal came at the 4:27 mark of the opening period just after a power play chance ended for the Panthers. It was Florida winger Carter Verhaeghe who was able to get a piece of a shot toward the Edmonton net from winger Evan Rodrigues for his 11th goal of the playoffs.
However, a little more than two minutes later, the Oilers tied the game at 1-1 thanks to a breakaway goal from forward Mattias Janmark. Edmonton defenseman Cody Ceci found Janmark with a perfect pass up the middle of the ice to get him loose, and his shot beat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to the blocker side for his fourth goal of the postseason.
Florida's game-winning tally came in the second period after a mad scramble in front of the Panthers net just moments before. After defenseman Dmitry Kulikov cleared a loose puck away from his own net, Florida started back the other way on a rush led by forward Sam Reinhart. Reinhart carried the puck in the Edmonton zone and fired a shot through Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner for his 10th goal of the playoffs.
While there ended up being no goal scoring in the third period, it was a high intensity 20 minutes of hockey with plenty of action at both ends of the ice. Edmonton had the better quality chances against Florida as the Oilers went into desperation mode, but could not manage to beat Bobrovsky and send the game to overtime.
Bobrovsky went on to stop nine third period shots by Edmonton, on his way to a 23-save performance on 24 shots faced. The 35-year-old veteran goaltender ends up winning his first Stanley Cup title in his 14th season in the NHL.
Finishing atop the scoring list for the Panthers over the course of the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs with 22 points each were captain Aleksander Barkov (8+14) and Matthew Tkachuk (6+16).
For Barkov, he becomes the first Finnish-born captain to ever lead his team to a Stanley Cup title, and just the seventh European-born captain in the NHL to achieve that mark.
As for Tkachuk, he manages to win a Stanley Cup in just his second season with the Panthers after reaching the Final last season, where Florida lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights. Tkachuk earns a title after his dad, Keith, failed to win a Stanley Cup over the course of his 18-year NHL career.
Meanwhile, a number of notable former Buffalo Sabres players will see their names etched on the Stanley Cup with the Panthers this year.
The most notable player to get his name on the Stanley Cup is veteran winger Kyle Okposo, who was acquired by the Panthers at the NHL Trade Deadline this March from the Sabres. It has been speculated that the 36-year-old was playing in his last season in the NHL, and finally gets to hoist the Stanley Cup after 1,051 regular season games and 40 career playoff games.
Okposo was the third player to get a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup during Monday's on-ice celebration after Barkov and Bobrovsky.
Other former Sabres players that played a significant role in the Panthers' Stanley Cup victory this season included Reinhart, forward Evan Rodrigues, and defensemen Brandon Montour and Dmitry Kulikov.
For head coach Paul Maurice, he wins the first Stanley Cup of his illustrious coaching career that spans 1,849 regular season games and 136 playoff games. Maurice was named the head coach of the Panthers ahead of the 2022-23 season, and has led Florida to back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Final.
Meanwhile, for the first time in 21 years, the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, ended up going to a player on the losing team in the Stanley Cup Final.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid put up a historic run in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, finishing with the fourth-most points produced in a single postseason with 42 points (8+34) in just 25 games played. He also broke the NHL record for the most assists registered in a single playoffs.
Despite going pointless in the final two games of the Stanley Cup Final, McDavid ended up earning the Conn Smythe Trophy honor.
McDavid is the first player since goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere to win the Conn Smythe Trophy in a losing effort with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2003. Overall, McDavid is just the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy on the losing team, and first skater to do so since Flyers winger Reggie Leach in the 1976 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After going down 3-0 in games in the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers managed to valiantly fight back to win Games 4, 5 and 6 and force a Game 7 back in Florida. However, Edmonton came just short of being the second team in NHL history to ever come back from a three-game deficit to win the Stanley Cup.
The Oilers also come up short of winning their first Stanley Cup title since 1990, and becoming the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
As for the Panthers, they are the first team since the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins to win a Stanley Cup after having lost in the Final the previous season.
Up next is the annual NHL Awards on Thursday night in Las Vegas before Round 1 of the 2024 NHL Draft gets underway Friday night from The Sphere.
Photo credit Losi & Gangi 
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