The Florida Panthers on Tuesday repeated as NHL Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the finals, becoming the NHL’s first back-to-back winners since the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021, and the third team to do it this century.
Sam Reinhart scored four goals, becoming just the sixth player in league history and first since Maurice Richard in 1957 to get that many in a game in the finals. His third to complete the hat-trick sent rats, along with hats, flying onto the ice.
Matthew Tkachuk, one of the faces of the franchise, fittingly scored the Cup clincher.
Photo: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images
More rats were part of the victory celebration when the clock hit zeroes. Panthers players mobbed in the corner, while the Oilers watched in dismay.
“Good evening, South Florida,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said before presenting the trophy to captain Aleksander Barkov. “It feels like we just did this.”
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced, closing the door on a rematch with the same end result. The only goal came from fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin in garbage time, long after the outcome was decided.
Photo: AFP
That was followed by chants of “we want the Cup” as time ticked down.
“This is as good as the first one,” Reinhart said. “We learned some lessons. We stayed on the gas, foot on the pedal, and obviously the result speaks for itself.”
Not long after the Lightning made three trips to the final in a row, Florida have done the same and now have the makings of a modern-day dynasty. The Panthers have won 11 of 12 playoff series since Tkachuk arrived by trade and Paul Maurice took over as coach in the summer of 2022.
Photo: AFP
“We’ve got to be a dynasty now,” Tkachuk said. “Three years in a row finals, two championships. This is a special group.”
The only time they have been on the wrong side of a handshake line was the final in Las Vegas in 2023, only after several key players were dealing with banged up and gutting through significant injuries.
From the core of Tkachuk, Reinhart, Barkov and Sam Bennett on down the roster, they were much healthier this time around and were boosted by key trade deadline additions Brad Marchand and Seth Jones. Bennett led all goal-scorers this post-season with 15 and Marchand had six in the final series alone.
Photo: AFP
Bennett won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff Most Valuable Player. Barkov handed the Cup to first-time champion Nate Schmidt and all the others winning it for the first time got it soon after.
“It’s amazing to be able to be here,” Schmidt said. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
Getting depth contributions from throughout 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 in the finals. Stuart Skinner got the nod in Game 6 and was again done in by mistakes in front of him that ended with the puck in the net behind him, and had his own blunder on Reinhart’s second goal.
McDavid tried to take over, but was again stymied by Barkov, Jones and Bobrovsky. He finished with seven points in his second career trip to the final, again denied his first title.
“We lost to a really good team,” McDavid said. “Nobody quit, nobody threw the towel in, but they’re a heck of a team. They’re back-to-back ... champions for a reason.”
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