The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions for the first time in franchise history. They avoided being on the wrong end of history taking down the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in game seven.
The Panthers dominated the first three games of the series holding a 3-0 lead over Edmonton going into game four. But the Oilers avoided elimination in three straight games becoming the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to come back from down 0-3 in the Stanley Cup Finals. The magic ran out as the Panthers took game seven.
The Panthers struck first in the first period with Carter Verhaeghe lighting the lamp less than five minutes into the game. Matthias Janmark tied it up a couple minutes later to tie it up 1-1.
That was the score going into the second period where the teams entered a stalemate until Sam Reinhart put the game winning goal in the back of the net with less than five minutes to go in the second period.
The third period saw no scoring but Edmonton pressed heavily on offense nearly scoring multiple times but Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made incredible saves time and time again to keep the Panthers in position to make history.. The Panthers held the Oilers off winning 2-1.
Oilers Forward Connor McDavid was named the Conn Smythe trophy winner for playoffs MVP after setting a record for assists in a Stanley Cup Playoffs.Â