The Florida Panthers held off a relentless attack by the Edmonton Oilers in the third period to win Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals 2-1 on Monday.
Both teams split goals at the end of the first half. Carter Verhaeghe gave Florida a 1-0 lead with a goal nearly five minutes into the first quarter.
Minutes later, Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark hit a wrist shot to tie the game at one heading into the second.
Sam Reinhart would be the only scorer in the middle period, giving the Panthers the 2-1 lead they would hold to secure their first Stanley Cup title as a franchise.
The Oilers tried desperately to get a goal in the final period, outscoring the Panthers in the third with nine shots on goal to Florida’s four.
The Florida Panthers won their first Stanley Cup after beating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1.
Edmonton would also have more shots on goal throughout the game: 24 to Florida’s 21. However, the winners had 31 shots to Edmonton’s 20 and 17 blocks to the Oilers’ 14.
After being forced to fall behind in the final period, the now-champions had 13 turnovers and 12 losses. Meanwhile, the Oilers had nine and seven, respectively.
Edmonton defeated the LA Kings in five games, the Vancouver Canucks in seven, and the Dallas Stars in six games to secure their spot in the Finals.
On the other hand, the Panthers’ championship run began with a gentlemanly sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a six-game series over the Boston Bruins, followed by another against the New York Rangers.
Florida took a convincing 3-0 lead, but left fans on the edge of their seats when Edmonton pulled back to force the decisive goal. Chasing their franchise’s sixth Stanley Cup title and first since 1990, the Oilers were denied the chance to make history by overcoming an 0-3 deficit.
The Panthers won their first title in seven games after going 3-0 over the Oilers in the series.
Florida held off Edmonton’s relentless attack in the third, totaling 20 blocks on the night.
Edmonton also had more shots on goal throughout the game: 24 to Florida’s 21.
The only other team to complete the feat was the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Panthers were outscored 18-5 in Games 4, 5 and 6, blowing three chances to win the Cup.
They brought in seven-time Grammy winner Alanis Morissette (she was born in Canada and became a dual US citizen in 2005) to sing the national anthems. Almost no one could hear her; Oilers fans drowned it out with ‘O Canada,’ Panthers fans did the same with ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ They had Panthers legend Roberto Luongo play the ceremonial bass drum after that; He urged fans to ‘let’s go’ with an extra word that needed to be sounded several times.
The pregame was strident. The stage was set.
And the teams came out absolutely on fire.
The Panthers defeated the Lightning, Bruins and Rangers on their way to their first title.
Carter Verhaeghe gave Florida a 1-0 lead with a goal five minutes into the first half.
Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark scored a wrist shot to tie the game at one heading into the second.
Sam Reinhart would be the only scorer at halftime, giving Florida a 2-1 lead.
The Panthers got the first goal just 4:27 into the game when Verhaeghe waved his staff to the puck that was fired from the left side by Evan Rodrigues and got enough to redirect it past Skinner for a 1-0 lead, Florida’s first lead since the end of Game 3.
They waited more than a week to get back on top. They remained there for just over two minutes.
Janmark got behind Florida defense and beat Bobrovsky by the right shoulder at 6:44, tying things up again and ensuring that this Game 7 of the finals, like the previous 17 games, would not end 1-0.
It stayed that way through wild ebbs and flows (the Oilers controlled long stretches, the Panthers counterattacked, back and forth) until Reinhart scored late in the second to put Florida up 2-1. It capped a crazy sequence, in which Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov ended 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 single-season record at Florida, and it was up to the Panthers to make it stick.
Florida came into Monday’s game with an NHL-best 44-0-3 record when leading after two periods this season. He also had an NHL-best 85-2-6 record in that situation in the two seasons under coach Paul Maurice.
They closed the door for the last time. And the Cup was his reward.
“This is the best moment of my life so far,” said veteran Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. “Nothing beats it.”
