The Florida Panthers made history Monday night by winning their first Stanley Cup, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in front of more than 19,000 fans at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
As expected, Game 7 was a fierce battle with both teams competing throughout the game.
Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhague scored for the Panthers, while Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.
Wilfredo Lee / AP
This time they avoided historical collapse and ended up on the right side of history. After winning the first three games of the series, the Panthers lost the next three and needed a win on Monday to avoid joining the 1942 Detroit Red Wings as the only team to take a 3-0 lead in the title round and lose in the finals.
It wasn’t easy. Not even close. But it’s over. It took until the very end for the Panthers to deny Edmonton what would have been Connor McDavid’s first title and first Cup since 2006.
CBS News Miami cameras captured fans cheering and screaming after every goal at watch parties across South Florida.
This year marked the Panthers’ third Stanley Cup appearance. In 2023, the Cats lost to the Golden Knights, and in 1996, the Cats collapsed. year of the ratIn an avalanche.
Panthers fans had to wait 30 years for this moment. It took 30 seasons, 457 players, 18 coaches, about 20 years of ineptitude along the way, shrinking rumors, trade rumors, and who knew how many bad nights it took to get to this moment.
The Cats and their fans struggled in this series, but ultimately won the Cup for their efforts.
Mattias Janmark scored a goal for Edmonton and Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots for the Oilers. The Oilers also failed to break Canada’s title drought. That was in 1993 and it’s been going on ever since a Canadian-based team won the Cup.
Montreal last did so 30 seasons ago. Since then, there have been seven attempts by teams from Canadian-based cities to win the title – Vancouver in 1994 and 2011, Calgary in 2004, Oilers in 2006, Ottawa in 2007 and Team Canada in 2021 – but all have been in vain.
South Florida now holds one of everything when it comes to titles in America’s four major professional sports leagues. The Miami Dolphins have won twice, then the Florida Marlins have won twice, the Miami Heat have won three, and now the Panthers have joined them. That party.
Welcome, Stanley. The Panthers were waiting. Maurice raised his cup next to the bench and screamed, squeezing her eyes shut to contain her emotions. General Manager Bill Zito didn’t even try to keep from screaming. And in the stands, Matthew Tkachuk’s family (his father Keith never won the Cup) enjoyed the moment, knowing that their last name would soon come to Lord Stanley.
“This is for them,” Tkachuk said.
Bobrovsky was as cool as can be, even in his biggest moments. Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard had a good look from the right circle with about 14 seconds left in the second period. Bobrovsky blocked the shot and the puck bounced off him and into the air.
are you okay. Bobrovsky picked up his stick and hit the puck again, looking more like he was playing a morning of pickleball at the park than in the biggest game of his life. It was literally the last line of defense against the Oilers and the last line of defense against the Panthers’ history. He fought desperately to escape.
Florida was an NHL-best 44-0-3 this season entering Monday when leading after two periods. The same goes for an NHL-best 85-2-6 in those situations over two seasons under Coach Morris.
They slammed the door one last time. And the cup was their reward.
“This is the best moment of my life so far,” veteran Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “There is nothing better than this.”
