Panthers win Stanley Cup, defeat Oilers 2-1 in Game 7
The Florida Panthers are STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions.
Playing a Game 7 on their home ice, Florida erased the memories of three straight losses over the past week and earned the biggest win of them all, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 to claim the best trophy in sports.
Wow.
Carter Verhaeghe got things started on the right foot for the Panthers less than five minutes into the game.
Moments after a high-sticking call on Warren Foegele expired, Verhaeghe deflected a shot by Evan Rodrigues through Stuart Skinner to Florida the all-important first goal.
The lead wouldn’t last long though, as Mattias Janmark got behind Florida’s top defensive pairing and beat Sergei Boborvsky under the blocker 2:17 after Verhaeghe’s tally.
A tripping call on Matthew Tkachuk gave Edmonton a power play early in the second period, but Florida killed it off thanks to a spectacular effort by the penalty killers, particularly Gus Forsling and Kevin Stenlund who played about 90 seconds of the kill without a stick after giving his to Forsling when a shot block broke the D-man’s twig just moments into the kill.
It wouldn’t be until later in the middle frame that Florida capitalized on that momentum.
Sam Reinhart came flying down the right wing and snapped a quick shot that beat Skinner short side, giving the Panthers a 2-1 lead with 4:49 to go in the second period.
Credit on the sequence must go to Dmitry Kulikov, who helped clear the puck from Florida’s crease while spilling himself into the goal, and it was directly off that clear that the Cats came down the ice and scored.
Florida went into Shutdown City mode during the third period, trying to keep everything in front of them and limit any offensive opportunities for the Oilers.
There weren’t many, as the Cats clamped down and won themselves a Stanley Cup.
Here are some thoughts and observations from Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final:
After failing to record a point in Games 2 through 5, Verhaeghe logged a goal and two assists in Games 6 and 7, including a goal and an assist Monday.
Rodrigues finished the Cup Final with four goals and seven points.
Florida went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play in Game 7.
Reinhart had gone three games without a point before scoring during the second period of Game 7. He ended up with 10 goals and 17 points during the postseason.
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