2024 Stanley Cup Final: Florida Panthers defeat Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 to capture first Stanley Cup in franchise history

CNN
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In a thrilling conclusion to the Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 to capture the first NHL championship in franchise history and avoid a historic collapse.

After racing to a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final, it appeared the Panthers would cruise to the franchise’s first title. However, struggles on both ends of the ice, combined with Edmonton outscoring Florida 18-5 during the three-game skid, erased their seemingly insurmountable lead and made for a dramatic Game 7.

Playing in front of a raucous crowd at Amerant Bank Arena, the Panthers struck first Monday night – something they hadn’t done since their last victory in Game 3. Carter Verhaeghe redirected an Evan Rodrigues shot moments after Florida’s power play ended , for the In the first period, the team led 1-0 after almost four and a half minutes.

Verhaeghe’s goal, his 11th of the Stanley Cup playoffs, tied the Panthers’ franchise record for most in a single postseason.

Florida’s lead was short-lived as Mattias Janmark answered with a breakaway goal just over two minutes later to tie the game at 1–1.

In the second period, the Oilers nearly took the lead when Warren Foegele’s shot on net went past Panthers’ goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, but defenseman Dmitry Kulikov cleared it just inches before it crossed the goal line.

Kulikov’s incredible blindside save opened the way for Sam Reinhart, who skated to the other side of the ice and buried the wrister from the right circle past Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner to give the Panthers the 2-1 lead at 3:11. period of time.

For Reinhart, the goal was the moment of redemption as he had failed to score a point during the three-match skid – despite scoring a team-leading 57 goals in the regular season.

With every minute that passed in the third period, Edmonton came close to an equalizer several times, but just couldn’t capitalize. Bobrovsky finished with 23 saves in the win.

After losing in the finals last year, and two other times before that, the Panthers finally captured the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Florida becomes only the third team in the past four decades to win the Stanley Cup, a year after losing in the finals.

“It’s not a dream anymore. It’s not a dream, it’s reality. I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it,” Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk said after the game. “I can’t believe how good these two years have been. I’m so thankful for this group of guys…something really special here with what we have.”

Oilers’ Connor McDavid received the Conn Smythe Trophy after recording 42 points: eight goals and 34 assists in 25 games. McDavid broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record for assists in a playoff year and became the third player in NHL history to score more than 40 points in a single postseason.

The Oilers were looking to become the second team in NHL history to come back from an 0-3 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final. Four teams have come back to win a series after being down 0-3 in NHL postseason history, but only once has a reverse sweep occurred in the Stanley Cup Final – more than 80 years ago, when the Maple Leafs rallied to defeat the Red Wings in 1942.

The loss continues a three-decade Stanley Cup drought for Canadian teams. The Montreal Canadiens were the last to lift the Cup in 1993.