Reigning Rats: Florida Panthers Win Stanley Cup Over Edmonton Oilers
The Florida Panthers are the NHL's 2024 Stanley Cup champions, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 on their fourth and final chance to win the series.
SUNRISE, FLA. — Let the rats fly. The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions.
The Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 to capture their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in their third visit to the final round.
Sam Reinhart scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period, while Carter Verhaeghe finished with a goal and an assist.
Despite losing the final, Oilers captain Connor McDavid was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP. McDavid finished the post-season with an NHL-record 34 assists. His 42 points were fourth all-time in a single post-season.
Reinhart gave Florida the decisive goal 4:49 to play in the second period. Moments after defenseman Dmitriy Kulikov made a desperate goal-line save to preserve the 1-1 tie, the Panthers hurried up ice. Carter Verhaeghe found Reinhart along the right boards. The winger carried into the zone and unleashed a shot from the top of the right circle to beat Stuart Skinner glove-side.
Sergei Bobrovsky found his "playoff Bob" form once again, stopping 23 shots in the win. He stopped 18 over the final two periods.
Edmonton's best chance in the third period came with a little more than seven minutes remaining. McDavid was unable to knock in a puck because he was tied up in front but managed to slide it over to Zach Hyman, who was unable to stuff it in on a goalmouth scramble.
The Panthers' defense, which struggled to contain McDavid in Games 4 through 6, held him to just two shots in 25:42 of ice time.
Florida opened the scoring 4:27 into the first period when Evan Rodrigues' shot from the top of the left circle was tipped by Carter Verhaeghe in front.
The Oilers responded a little more than two minutes later. Cody Ceci found Mattias Janmark behind the Panthers' defense. The winger scored on a breakaway, putting the puck under Sergei Bobrovsky's blocker.
With the victory, Florida avoided a historically disastrous finish. The Panthers were just the second franchise in NHL history to post a 3-0 series lead in the Cup final, only to have it wiped out to force a Game 7.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are the other franchise to twice accomplish the feat, completing a reverse sweep in 1942 against the Detroit Red Wings. Toronto nearly accomplished another comeback from three down in 1945 but could not topple Detroit a second time.
The win also marks the first NHL championship in Panthers coach Paul Maurice's career. Maurice is the fourth-winningest coach in NHL history, with 869 wins in 1,848 career regular-season games coached.
"It's not what I thought it would be – it's so much better," Maurice told Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas after the game.
"It's for my mom and dad in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, my brothers, Mike and Shea, in Sault Ste. Marie and Waterloo... All of the people who suffered through 30 years of me losing and making excuses, Mom and Dad especially.
"Dad, your name's going up with your heroes. Beliveau, Richard, Howe, Lindsay, Maurice."
The Panthers improved to 3-1 all-time in Game 7s. The Oilers dropped to 8-5.
For more team-specific reaction, visit The Hockey News' Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers sites.
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