Florida Panthers fans may not be as numerous as some of the NHL’s most storied franchises, but they exist. And they’ve waited since the franchise began play in 1993 to experience a Stanley Cup victory.
A little over a week ago, celebrating that franchise for the first time seemed like a sure thing. The Panthers led the Stanley Cup Final 3-0, and we all know now that that’s close to a tie in historical terms. And somehow, those Panthers fans who were getting ready to celebrate their team’s first Stanley Cup victory are now sweating Monday night’s Game 7 against the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton won three games in a row, including Game 5 in Florida, to force a winner-take-all game.
Plus, those bettors who had tickets for the Panthers to win it all. at BetMGM They wonder what happened.
There are plenty of ways to illustrate how incredible it would be if the Panthers lost the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night, but a walk through the way the odds have changed at BetMGM over the past nine days is as shocking as any. .
The Panthers were once heavy favorites
Here’s how the Panthers’ odds on winning the Stanley Cup have changed since the start of the Stanley Cup Final:
Before Game 1: -130 (bet $130 to win $100)
Before game 2: -250
Before Game 3: -550
Before Game 4: -3000
Before Game 5: -1200
Before Game 6: -350
Before Game 7: -110
When the Oilers and Panthers began Game 4 on June 15, Florida led the series 3-0 and you would have had to bet $3,000 to win $100. The implied odds for a -3000 favorite to win are 96.7%, and that seemed low for a team that was up 3-0 in a playoff series.
When the Stanley Cup odds were first released before the season, the Panthers were +1800 to win it all. When the playoffs started, they were +700. There wasn’t much faith in the Panthers (only 4.6% of bets were on Florida to win the entire thing), but those who had Panthers tickets had to feel pretty good about it after Florida went up 3-0. And now those bets are 50/50. The Oilers and Panthers have even odds of -110 to win Game 7 at BetMGM.
The history of the 3-0 series collapses
You’ll hear the story during the broadcast, and maybe a lot about it after the game is over, but here’s a list of every team that has lost a series in the major American sports leagues after taking a 3-0 lead:
NBA: Never
Big leagues: 2004 American League Championship Series, Boston Red Sox over New York Yankees
National Football League: 1942 Stanley Cup Final, Toronto Maple Leafs over Detroit Red Wings
1975 Quarterfinals, New York Islanders over Pittsburgh Penguins
2010 conference semifinals, Philadelphia Flyers over Boston Bruins
2014 first round, Los Angeles Kings over San Jose Sharks
That’s it, five times in hundreds of postseasons. According to Yahoo Sports AM, teams that take a 3-0 lead in a series are 206-4 in the NHL, 157-0 in the NBA and 39-1 in the MLB. That’s 402-4 overall before the Panthers took that 3-0 lead. And this has happened only once in a championship round, back in 1942, when there were only seven NHL teams.
So, based on a 99% historical trend, the Panthers are one coin flip away from winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. You may not know any dedicated Panthers fans, but if you do, wish them the best today. They may never recover from watching their team ruin this series.