News

Florida Panthers Win First Stanley Cup With 2-1 Victory In Game 7, Hold Off Edmonton Oilers’ Furious Rally; Pending UFA Reinhart Scores Game-Winner

By Harrison Brown·
Photo: SN650

The Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 2-1 in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise to win their first championship. Edmonton forced a Game 7 after going down 0-3 in the series, the first team to do so in the final series since the 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs over the Detroit Red Wings and in the NHL postseason since the 2014 Los Angeles Kings over the San Jose Sharks. NoVa Caps rounds up the highlights and notable stats from the historic Game 7 in South Florida:

FIRST PERIOD

4:27: 1-0 Florida: Center Carter Verhaghe tipped center Evan Rodrigue’s wrister from the half-wall through the five-hole of Stuart Skinner after the two played catch. It was Florida’s first lead in the last 184:27 of the Stanley Cup Final.

6:44, 1-1: Left-wing Mattias Janmark deked and went high blocker on Sergei Bobrovsky on a breakaway after getting sprained from the defensive zone by defenseman Cody Ceci.

SECOND PERIOD

15:11, 2-1 Florida: After defenseman Dmitry Kulikov swept a bouncing puck in Florida’s crease, Carter Verhaeghe took it the other way and fed Sam Reinhart, who whipped the puck over the glove of Skinner. Reinhart can become an unrestricted free agent on Monday.

THIRD PERIOD

There would be no scoring in the third period. Bobrovsky finished with 22 saves (.957 save percentage) while Skinner stopped 21 (.905).

Edmonton right-wing Corey Perry has been to the Final four times (Edmonton, Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning) in the past five seasons with four different teams and his team has lost every series.

Despite Edmonton losing, McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the postseason after leading the tournament with 34 assists and 42 points (the fourth-most in a single postseason) in 25 games.

The NHL Draft is set for Friday at 7 PM ET and Saturday at 11:30 AM ET from the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada and free agency will open at 12 PM ET on Monday.

By Harrison Brown