BY TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. — There was no collapse. The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions for the first time, and they took about the hardest path possible to the title.
Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored goals, Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves and the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, on Monday night in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. It was the third title-round appearance in Florida’s 30-year history; the Panthers were swept in 1996 by Colorado and routed, 4-1, by Vegas last season.
This time, they were on the right side of history – after avoiding what would have been a historic collapse. The Panthers won the first three games of the series, then lost the next three and needed a win on Monday to avoid joining the 1942 Detroit Red Wings as the only teams to lose the final after taking a 3-0 lead in the title round.
It wasn’t easy. Not even close. But it’s done. It took until the very end for the Panthers to deny Connor McDavid his first title, and Edmonton what would have been its first Cup since 2006.
McDavid won the Conn Smythe as MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. He didn’t come out for the trophy. It’s not the one he wanted, anyway. The Cup is what they play for, and it was Florida that hoisted it.
“It’s not a dream anymore. It’s not a dream. It’s reality,” said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who got traded to Florida two summers ago with this as his goal. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. … I can’t believe how good these two years have been. So thankful for this group of guys. It’s the best place, best guys. It’s something really special here with what we have.”
Mattias Janmark had the goal for Edmonton and Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots for the Oilers. The Oilers also couldn’t snap Canada’s title drought; it’s been 1993 and counting since a team based in Canada won the Cup.
Montreal was the last to do so, 30 seasons ago. Since then, there have been seven attempts by teams from Canadian-based cities – Vancouver in 1994 and 2011, Calgary in 2004, the Oilers in 2006, Ottawa in 2007 and the Canadiens in 2021 – to win titles, and all were in vain.
South Florida now has one of everything when it comes to titles from the four major pro sports leagues in the U.S. The Miami Dolphins were champions twice, the then-Florida Marlins were champions twice, the Miami Heat have three titles and now the Panthers have joined the party.
Welcome, Stanley. The Panthers have been waiting.
Bobrovsky was as cool as could be, even in the 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.
No problem. Bobrovsky took his stick and batted the puck away again, more like he was playing morning pickleball at a park than in the biggest game of his life – literally, the last line of defense against the Oilers, and against a piece of history that the Panthers desperately fought to avoid.
Florida led this title series 3-0, then got outscored 18-5 in Games 4, 5 and 6 to waste three chances at winning the Cup. Edmonton was one win away from becoming the second team in NHL history to win the Cup after dropping the first three games; Toronto did it to Detroit in 1942, and no team has pulled off such a comeback since.
They brought in seven-time Grammy winner Alanis Morissette – she was born in Canada and became a dual U.S. citizen in 2005 – to sing the national anthems. Hardly anybody could hear her; the Oilers fans drowned her out for “O Canada,” the Panthers fans did the same for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” They had Panthers legend Roberto Luongo bang the ceremonial bass drum after that; he urged fans to “let’s go” with an extra word in there that needed to be bleeped a few times.
The pregame was raucous. The stage was set.
And the teams came out absolutely ablaze.
The Panthers got the first goal just 4:27 into the game when Verhaeghe waved his stick at the puck that was fired in from the left side by Evan Rodrigues and got just enough to redirect it past Skinner for a 1-0 lead – the first Florida lead since the end of Game 3.
They waited more than a week to be back on top. They stayed there for just over two minutes.
Janmark got behind the Florida defense and beat Bobrovsky over the right shoulder at 6:44, knotting things right back up and ensuring that this Game 7 of the Final – like all 17 of the previous such games – wouldn’t end 1-0.
It stayed that way through wild ebbs and flows – the Oilers controlled long stretches, the Panthers would counter, back and forth – until Reinhart scored late in the second to put Florida ahead, 2-1. It capped a crazy sequence, one where Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov wound up in the net to help prevent an Edmonton goal seconds before Reinhart beat Skinner. The goal was Reinhart’s 67th of the season, extending his Florida single-season record, and it was up to the Panthers to make it hold up.
Florida was an NHL-best 44-0-3 entering Monday when leading after two periods this season. An NHL-best 85-2-6 in that situation in the two seasons under Coach Paul Maurice, too.
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. “Nothing tops it.”
McDAVID VOTED MVP
McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy despite Edmonton’s loss, a nod to one of the greatest postseason performances in NHL history.
McDavid, who was held without a point in Game 7 on Monday night, led all scorers with 42 points, five shy of the record of 47 set by Wayne Gretzky in 1985.
“It’s incredible,” teammate Dylan Holloway said before the game. “There’s no shortage of words. He’s just so awesome. He brings it every single day, and when we need him the most that’s when he plays the best. He’s obviously a really special player and a special guy, too.”
After not scoring (but still leading the team with three assists) through the first three games against Florida, McDavid changed the course of the series by doing something no other player in history has done, including Gretzky. He had four points in consecutive games in the final to keep the Oilers from being eliminated.
Panthers forward Nick Cousins said McDavid was “playing on a different level.”
“I didn’t think it was possible for him to elevate his game, but he has,” Cousins said.
McDavid is just the second skater after the Flyers’ Reggie Leach in 1976 to win the Conn Smythe on a team that lost in the final. Goaltenders Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Ducks in 2003, Ron Hextall of Philadelphia in 1987, Glenn Hall of St. Louis in 1968 and Roger Crozier with Detroit in 1966 were also playoff MVPs after backstopping teams that fell just short of hoisting the Cup.
McDavid, the reigning and three time Hart Trophy winner long considered the best hockey player in the world, put on a show in his first trip to the final. His goal and three assists in an 8-1 rout in Game 4 avoided a sweep, and his four points including an empty netter in Game 5 three nights later dragged the series back to Alberta.
Those who know McDavid believe it’s the year-round work he has put in throughout his career allowed him to thrive when the spotlight was at its brightest.
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“He’s unique in his dedication to his craft,” said Hall of Famer Ken Hitchcock, who coached McDavid in 2018-19. “He’s very unique. He’s learned to be relentless, and he enjoys it and he’s very, very serious about his craft, and that becomes contagious when you’re on the team with him.”
Oilers players lauded McDavid not just for leading by example with his play but also off the ice.
“He gives me a ton of confidence no matter what happens in the game, goaltender Stuart Skinner said while sitting next to McDavid, who turned bright red listening. “Whether I let in five, whether I get a shutout. He’s always in my corner, he’s always patting me on the back and telling me that he believes in me. … I could talk about him for a very long time.”
That talk is justified for a player who led the league in scoring five times during the regular season and accomplished just about everything on an individual basis. What is still missing in the Stanley Cup, which will have to wait at least another year.
More to come on this story.
Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid, right, is consoled by Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov after the Panthers won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night in Sunrise, Fla. McDavid was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP despite his team’s loss. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)