For the first time in history, the Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions.
Florida secured a 2-1 Game 7 thriller to defeat the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. The win avoided a historic collapse after the Oilers recovered from a 3–0 series deficit to tie the series at 3–3.
The first period started well. The Panthers created the game’s first power play on a high-stick penalty from Warren Foegele less than three minutes into the game. It wasn’t immediately converted into a power-play goal, but Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe broke the scoreless tie seconds after it ended.
Just as Edmonton was back to full strength, Florida’s Evan Rodrigues fired a slap shot from the left wall that missed just wide right. But Verhaeghe knocked the puck out of the air with his stick and snuck it past Stewart Skinner for a 1-0 Florida lead.
The goal with 15:33 left in the period gave Florida its first lead in the series since closing Game 3 with a 4-3 victory. It was short-lived.
Just 2:17 later, Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark tied the game on a breakaway goal following a sensational assist from Cody Ceci.
After a Florida turnover, Ceci pushed the puck behind the Edmonton goal line and then fired it up ice through three Florida defensemen. Janmark secured the pass in front of the Florida blue line and attacked the net without a defender in his way. He covered Florida goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky and sent a wrist shot into the left side of the net.
The goal tied the game at 1-1 and piled on a trend that plagued the Panthers as the Oilers rallied to even the series from a 3-0 deficit. The goal was the fifth straight for Edmonton in the breakaway series.
Florida’s defense takes over
But those opportunities dried up as the match entered the second period tied at 1-1. The Oilers controlled the puck for much of the second, but struggled to convert that control into scoring opportunities. Then, just over fifteen minutes into the second, the Panthers turned an Oilers scoring opportunity into one of their own.
Foegele threatened to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead with a shot from the right goal line into a crowded net. But Florida’s Dmitry Kulikov put the puck away, and the Panthers secured him to go on the attack. Center Sam Reinhart capitalized on the opportunity at the other end with a slap shot from the right wing that found the back of the net for a 2-1 lead for the Panthers, sending the eager Florida home crowd into a frenzy.
The second period ended without another goal and the Panthers entered the third period with history on their side. The teams leading Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final had won 13 times in 14 previous opportunities. The Panthers had won 25 straight games when they led after two.
Florida’s defense made sure the Panthers wouldn’t break the trend. A unit that defined the series en route to a 3-0 lead was back in control. The Panthers’ limited looks for Connor McDavid continued to keep All-Star Leon Draisaitl in check.
McDavid’s best scoring opportunity came with 7:05 left in the game. But he lost control of the puck directly in front of the net, and the Oilers were unable to get it past Bobrovsky.
Edmonton turned up the pressure on Bobrovsky in the final minutes of regulation but couldn’t get the puck past the Florida goalie as the Panthers held on for a Game 7 thriller.
Panthers break through after 30 seasons
The victory marks the first in three trips to the Stanley Cup Final for the Panthers since their inception in 1993-94. They first played for the Cup in 1996, their third year in the NHL, but were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. They returned last season, the first under head coach Paul Maurice, but fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
The Panthers didn’t have any hangover this season after a long playoff run in 2023. They improved by 10 wins and 18 points to win the Atlantic Division title and finish third in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.
In the playoffs, the Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games and the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers in six games to reach the Cup Final against the Oilers. Now they are Stanley Cup champions for the first time in franchise history.
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