SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Stanley’s stay in South Florida is getting extended.
The Florida Panthers clinched the Stanley Cup for a second consecutive year, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the finals Tuesday night. They are the first team to win back-to-back championships since Tampa Bay achieved the feat in 2020 and 2021, and only the third to do so in this century.
Sam Reinhart made history by scoring four goals, becoming just the sixth player in NHL history, and the first since Maurice Richard in 1957, to achieve that in a finals game. His third goal not only secured a hat trick but also led to fans throwing rats and hats onto the ice. Matthew Tkachuk, a prominent player for the Panthers, fittingly scored the decisive goal that sealed the victory.
More rats were part of the victory celebration when the clock hit zeroes. Panthers players mobbed in the corner, while the Oilers watched in dismay.
“Good evening, South Florida,” said Commissioner Gary Bettman before handing the trophy over to team captain Aleksander Barkov. “It feels like we just did this.”
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced, closing the door on a rematch with the same end result. The only goal came from fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin in garbage time, long after the outcome was decided.
That was followed by chants of “We want the Cup!” as time ticked down. The Panthers already had it. Now they get to keep it.
“This is as good as the first one,” Reinhart said. “We learned some lessons. We stayed on the gas, foot on the pedal, and obviously the result speaks for itself.”
Not long after the Lightning made three trips to the final in a row, Florida has done the same and now has the makings of a dynasty. The Panthers have won 11 of 12 playoff series since T kachuk arrived by trade and Paul Maurice took over as coach in the summer of 2022.
“We’ve got to be a dynasty now,” Tkachuk said. “Three years in a row finals, two championships. This is a special group.”
The only time they have been on the wrong side of a handshake line was the final in Vegas in 2023, only after several key players were banged up and gutting through significant injuries.
From the core of Tkachuk, Reinhart, Barkov and Sam Bennett on down the roster, they were much healthier this time around and were boosted by key trade deadline additions Brad Marchand and Seth Jones. Bennett led all goal-scorers this postseason with 15, and Marchand had six in the final alone.
Bennett won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Barkov handed the Cup to first-time champion Nate Schmidt, and all the others winning it for the first time got it soon after.
“It’s amazing to be able to be here,” Schmidt said. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
Getting depth contributions from throughout the lineup allowed them to overpower Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers, who struggled with Florida’s ferocious forecheck and switched goaltenders multiple times in the final. Stuart Skinner got the nod in Game 6 and was again done in by mistakes in front of him that ended with the puck in the net behind him and had his own blunder on Reinhart’s second goal.
McDavid tried to take over but was again stymied by Barkov, Jones and Bobrovsky. He finished with seven points in his second career trip to the final, again denied his first title.
The Panthers spent more time leading during this Stanley Cup Final than any previous team in history, 255:49 minutes in all.
“We lost to a really good team,” McDavid said. “Nobody quit, nobody threw the towel in, but they’re a heck of a team. They’re back-to-back Stanley Cup champions for a reason.”
Canada’s Stanley Cup drought reached 31 seasons and 32 years dating to Montreal in 1993. Teams in the U.S. Sun Belt have won it five of the past six times, four of them in Florida.
This run through Tampa Bay in five games, Toronto in seven, Carolina in five and Edmonton in six showed how clinical the Panthers have become under Maurice, who has coached more NHL games than everyone except Scotty Bowman and is now a two-time champion.
So is Marchand, who last hoisted the Cup in 2011 with the Boston Bruins. The 14-year gap is the third-longest in league history, just shy of 16 for Chris Chelios from 1986 to 2002 and 15 for Mark Recchi from ’91 to ’06.
“It’s incredible,” Marchand said. “It’s a feeling you can’t really describe. Seeing the family and everyone up there and everyone that supported me and helped me get to this point, words can’t put this into reality how great it feels. Such an incredible group.”
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