The Florida Panthers made history Monday night in front of more than 19,000 fans at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 to win their first Stanley Cup.
As expected, Game 7 was a hard-fought match, with both teams going against each other throughout the game.
Panthers’ Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored goals, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.
This time they were on the right side of history – having avoided a historic collapse. The Panthers won the first three games of the series, then lost the next three and needed a win Monday to avoid joining the 1942 Detroit Red Wings as the only teams to lose the finals after a 3-0 to have taken the lead in the title round.
It wasn’t easy. Not even close. But it’s done. It took until the end for the Panthers to deny Connor McDavid his first title, and Edmonton what would have been its first Cup since 2006.
CBS News Miami cameras captured images of fans at viewing parties across South Florida cheering and hollering for every goal scored.
This year marked the third time the Panthers played for the Stanley Cup. In 2023 the Cats fell to the Golden Knights and in 1996 the Year of the Ratto the avalanche.
Panthers fans had to wait three long decades to reach this moment. It took 30 seasons, 457 different players, 18 different coaches, about two decades of irrelevance, rumors of downsizing, rumors of relocation, and who knows how many more bad nights would follow.
The Cats and their fans suffered in this series, but in the end they won the cup through sheer effort in their building.
This development story will be updated as more details become available.
