SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Stanley’s keep in South Florida is getting prolonged.
The Florida Panthers repeated as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the final on Tuesday evening, changing into the NHL’s first back-to-back winners since Tampa Bay in 2020 and ’21 and the third group to do it this century.
Sam Reinhart scored 4 objectives, changing into simply the sixth participant in league historical past and first since Maurice Richard in 1957 to get that many in a recreation within the closing. His third to finish the hat trick despatched rats, together with hats, flying onto the ice. Matthew Tkachuk, one of many faces of the franchise, fittingly scored the Cup clincher.
Extra rats had been a part of the victory celebration when the clock hit zeroes. Panthers gamers mobbed within the nook, whereas the Oilers watched in dismay.
“Good night, South Florida,” Commissioner Gary Bettman stated earlier than presenting the trophy to captain Aleksander Barkov. “It appears like we simply did this.”
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of the 29 photographs he confronted, closing the door on a rematch with the identical finish consequence. The one purpose got here from fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin in rubbish time, lengthy after the end result was determined.
That was adopted by chants of “We wish the Cup!” as time ticked down. The Panthers already had it. Now they get to maintain it.
“That is pretty much as good as the primary one,” Reinhart stated. “We discovered some classes. We stayed on the gasoline, foot on the pedal, and clearly the consequence speaks for itself.”
Not lengthy after the Lightning made three journeys to the ultimate in a row, Florida has completed the identical and now has the makings of a modern-day dynasty. The Panthers have gained 11 of 12 playoff sequence since T kachuk arrived by commerce and Paul Maurice took over as coach in the summertime of 2022.
“We’ve acquired to be a dynasty now,” Tkachuk stated. “Three years in a row finals, two championships. It is a particular group.”
The one time they’ve been on the mistaken aspect of a handshake line was the ultimate in Vegas in 2023, solely after a number of key gamers had been coping with banged up and gutting by means of important accidents.
From the core of Tkachuk, Reinhart, Barkov and Sam Bennett on down the roster, they were much healthier this time round and had been boosted by key commerce deadline additions Brad Marchand and Seth Jones. Bennett led all goal-scorers this postseason with 15, and Marchand had six within the closing alone.
Bennett gained the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Barkov handed the Cup to first-time champion Nate Schmidt, and all of the others profitable it for the primary time acquired it quickly after.
“It’s superb to have the ability to be right here,” Schmidt stated. “I don’t know whether or not to chortle or cry.”
Getting depth contributions from all through 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 within the closing. Stuart Skinner acquired the nod in Recreation 6 and was once more completed in by errors in entrance of him that ended with the puck within the internet behind him and had his personal blunder on Reinhart’s second purpose.
McDavid tried to take over however was once more stymied by Barkov, Jones and Bobrovsky. He completed with seven factors in his second profession journey to the ultimate, once more denied his first title.
Canada’s Stanley Cup drought reached 31 seasons and 32 years courting to Montreal in 1993. Groups within the U.S. Solar Belt have gained it 5 of the previous six occasions, 4 of them in Florida.
This run by means of Tampa Bay in 5, Toronto in seven, Carolina in 5 and Edmonton in six confirmed how scientific the Panthers have turn out to be beneath Maurice, who has coached extra NHL video games than everybody besides Scotty Bowman and is now a two-time champion.
So is Marchand, who final hoisted the Cup in 2011 with the Boston Bruins. The 14-year hole is the third-longest in league historical past, simply shy of 16 for Chris Chelios from 1986 to 2002 and 15 for Mark Recchi from ’91 to ’06.
“It’s unimaginable,” Marchand stated. “It’s a sense you’ll be able to’t actually describe. Seeing the household and everybody up there and everybody that supported me and helped me get so far, phrases can’t put this into actuality how nice it feels. Such an unimaginable group.”
