By Stephen Whyno | The Related Press
SUNRISE, Fla. — 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 Sport 6 of the ultimate on Tuesday evening, turning 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 targets, turning 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 evening, South Florida,” Commissioner Gary Bettman mentioned earlier than presenting the trophy to captain Aleksander Barkov. “It feels like we just 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 result was determined.
That was adopted by chants of “We want the Cup!” as time ticked down. The Panthers already had it. Now they get to maintain it.
“This is as good as the first one,” Reinhart mentioned. “We learned some lessons. We stayed on the gas, foot on the pedal, and obviously the result speaks for itself.”
Not lengthy after the Lightning made three journeys to the ultimate in a row, Florida has finished the identical and now has the makings of a 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 got to be a dynasty now,” Tkachuk mentioned. “Three years in a row finals, two championships. This is a special 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 banged up and gutting by means of vital accidents.
From the core of Tkachuk, Reinhart, Barkov and Sam Bennett on down the roster, they had been a lot more healthy 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 successful it for the primary time bought it quickly after.
“It’s amazing to be able to be here,” Schmidt mentioned. “I don’t know whether to laugh 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 a number of occasions within the closing. Stuart Skinner bought the nod in Sport 6 and was once more finished in by errors in entrance of him that ended with the puck within the web 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.
The Panthers spent extra time main throughout this Stanley Cup Closing than any earlier group in historical past, 255:49 minutes in all.
“We lost to a really good team,” McDavid mentioned. “Nobody quit, nobody threw the towel in, but they’re a heck of a team. They’re back-to-back Stanley Cup champions for a reason.”
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 video games, Toronto in seven, Carolina in 5 and Edmonton in six confirmed how medical the Panthers have turn out to be underneath 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 incredible,” Marchand mentioned. “It’s a feeling you can’t really describe. Seeing the family and everyone up there and everyone that supported me and helped me get to this point, words can’t put this into reality how great it feels. Such an incredible group.”
