Panthers edge Oilers in Recreation 7, win first Stanley Cup title – ESPN

The Florida Panthers win their first Stanley Cup after holding on in opposition to Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers within the third interval. (0:55)
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers captured their first Stanley Cup in franchise historical past with a 2-1 Game 7 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night time in an exciting conclusion to a basic playoff sequence.
Winger Sam Reinhart‘s second-period aim proved to be the winner, as goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves to shut out the sequence — and assist his workforce keep away from postseason infamy.
The Panthers’ win averted one of the crucial epic collapses in sports activities historical past. Florida had constructed a 3-0 sequence lead, however the Oilers roared again with three straight wins, simply the third time in NHL historical past {that a} workforce compelled a Recreation 7 after shedding the primary three video games of a Stanley Cup Last.
However the legacy of the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs stays intact; they’re nonetheless the one workforce to rally from a 3-0 deficit within the Last to win the Cup, after the Oilers got here up brief.
As a substitute, Florida turned simply the third workforce up to now 40 years to win the Stanley Cup after shedding within the Last through the earlier postseason, because the Panthers fell in 5 video games to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023.
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov was awarded the Cup by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and after his skate with it, Barkov handed if off to Bobrovsky.
“He deserves it. He is been right here for a very long time and has been our greatest participant for a very long time,” Barkov stated of Bobrovsky. “He performed unimaginable.”
Florida coach Paul Maurice — who joined the franchise two seasons in the past after stepping down as coach of the Winnipeg Jets and had been to the Last twice in two years — received for the primary time in a prolonged profession.
“I have been chasing that for a very long time,” Maurice stated after handing off the Stanley Cup to his teaching workers. “It is bought nothing to do with the coach; this group has been particular since day one.”
The Oilers have been making their first Stanley Cup Last look since 2006.
This was the furthest Edmonton superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl had carried their workforce within the postseason. Neither participant had a degree in Recreation 7, with McDavid going scoreless within the final two video games of the sequence. He completed because the playoffs’ main scorer with 42 factors. Regardless of the loss, McDavid was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy because the postseason’s most precious participant.
The vitality within the constructing for Recreation 7 may very well be felt properly earlier than puck drop. A major variety of Oilers followers bought tickets for the sport, cheering Edmonton gamers throughout warmups and loudly singing “O Canada” over visitor anthem singer Alanis Morissette. Panthers followers belted their very own full of life rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in response.
The Panthers opened the scoring moments after an early energy play ended, following a high-sticking name on Edmonton’s Warren Foegele. Florida winger Evan Rodrigues flung the puck towards the Edmonton web the place he discovered Carter Verhaeghe alone in entrance, tipping it dwelling for his eleventh aim of the playoffs at 4:27 to ship the house crowd right into a frenzy.
“They are saying it is the toughest trophy to win in sports activities, and you may’t think about how onerous it’s, till you do it,” Rodrigues stated. “Attending to Recreation 7, it took stress off of us, and we did it the onerous method. However it was an ideal end result.”
Groups that scored first in Recreation 7 of a Stanley Cup Last owned an all-time report of 12-5, together with eight straight wins courting again to 1994.
However Mattias Janmark gave the Oilers followers in Dawn a cause to cheer simply 2:17 later, taking a rink-length outlet go from defenseman Cody Ceci and changing a breakaway aim for his fourth of the playoffs to knot the rating at 1-1.
The Panthers took the lead within the second interval in a “hockey is a sport of inches” sequence.
Foegele shot the puck with a crowd in entrance of Bobrovsky. It deflected over the goaltender’s arm and fell to the ice subsequent to him, the place defenseman Dmitry Kulikov cleared it to the nook whereas falling down.
Kulikov’s play ended up because the secondary help on Reinhart’s go-ahead aim at 15:11, a wrist shot by means of a display that beat goalie Stuart Skinner. It was Reinhart’s tenth aim of the playoffs and first since Recreation 3.
Florida took a lead into the third interval for the tenth time, having gone 9-0 in that scenario through the postseason. Over the previous two postseasons, they have been 18-0 when main after two.
In Stanley Cup Last historical past, groups have been 13-1 when main after two durations in a Recreation 7. The lone workforce to rally? These 1942 Maple Leafs, who received the Cup after trailing the Detroit Red Wings 1-0.
The Oilers pushed within the third interval however could not discover the equalizer, regardless of some chaotic moments in entrance of Bobrovsky.
Plastic rats, gloves and sticks littered the ice because the Panthers celebrated.
“It wasn’t simple, nevertheless it was price it, every little thing was price it,” Bobrovsky stated. “It was all for this second that I wish to get pleasure from.”
McDavid stated it was “Cup or bust” after final season. It took till the final doable sport of the season for his championship push to finish and his nation’s Stanley Cup drought to proceed. No Canadian workforce has received the Cup because the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
“We misplaced to a really deserving workforce,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch stated.

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