Florida is returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row

The Florida Panthers did something on Saturday night that they hadn’t done before.

It wasn’t punching a ticket to the Stanley Cup Final, that’s happened twice before.

It wasn’t winning an Eastern Conference title on home ice. They did that last year.

This season, unlike in 1996 and 2023, the Panthers kept their distance from the Prince of Wales Trophy, which is present annually to the Eastern Conference Champions.

There are some who feel its bad luck to touch the conference championship trophies because they’re not the trophies that the players are seeking.

Most players who haven’t won the Stanley Cup refuse to touch it until they do.

Historically, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of touching the Prince of Wales Trophy and winning or losing the Stanley Cup Final.

Before Florida, Tampa Bay went to three straight finals and touched it every time. They won two and lost one.

From 2016-2018, the three cup winners, Pittsburgh twice and Washington, all touched it.

In 2019, Boston did not touch it and ended up losing to St. Louis in the final.

So clearly, it’s not an exact science.

“It has nothing to do with anything, but we play our silly games,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice.

Still, at the end of Game 6 on Saturday, with celebrations just getting started on the ice at Amerant Bank Arena, Maurice went over to his captain on the bench and appeared to tell Sasha Barkov not to touch the trophy.

Matthew Tkachuk was standing next to Barkov and also leaned in to hear what Maurice was saying.

Apparently Maurice gave a similar instruction last year, but circumstances were a little different.

“He also told me (not to touch the trophy) last year,” said Barkov. "Last year we had a different situation. We’re not going to talk about last year. This year, I think we all agreed that we’re not going to touch it."

Last year Tkachuk skated right up to the trophy and grabbed it, leading to a postgame celebration that saw Florida’s players carrying it around the locker room, taking selfies with it and just generally having a grand old time.

They went on to lose to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Stanley Cup Final.

This year they’re obviously hoping for a different result.

“We touched it last year and it didn’t work for us,” said Panthers forward Sam Bennett. “So we thought we'd try something different this year.”

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