The Florida Panthers triumphed over the Edmonton Oilers to secure their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored for the Panthers, while Mattias Janmark netted for the Oilers, resulting in a 2-1 victory and a 4-3 series win.
Despite trailing 3-0 in the series, the Oilers fought back to force a deciding game. “I’ve been chasing that for a long time,” said Florida coach Paul Maurice. “It was perfect Florida Panther fashion – nothing’s easy. Nothing’s easy for us.”
The Oilers aimed to become just the second team in NHL history to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup. With home advantage for the final game, it took only four minutes and 27 seconds for Verhaeghe to score for the Panthers, tipping Evan Rodrigues’ shot past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.
Janmark equalized for the Oilers with a finish from Cody Ceci’s pass. Reinhart then scored the winner in the second period, just after the Oilers had an attempt cleared off the goal line.
Rodrigues reflected on the victory, saying, “They say this is the hardest trophy to win in sports, and you can’t imagine how hard it is until you do it. But getting to game seven took pressure off of us, and we did it the hard way. But it was a perfect outcome.”
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