One year after losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers finished the job in a tense Game 7 battle with the Edmonton Oilers.
In the early stages of this series, the Panthers were in cruise control. The champions of the East outscored Edmonton 7-1 in Games 1 and 2, and a 4-3 victory in Game 3 put the Panthers on the edge of glory. However, the Oilers turned the series on its head with a dominant 8-1 victory in Game 4. Florida had zero answers in Games 5 or 6, as Edmonton evened the series after outscoring the Panthers 10-4.
Back at home for Game 7, the Panthers went back to playing their game. Sergei Bobrovsky was strong in net for the first time since Game 2. Thanks to his 23 saves, Bobrovsky was named the top performer in the Cup-clinching game. Carter Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a lead less than five minutes into the game, but Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark scored the tying goal a little more than two minutes later.
As the second period approached its closing minutes, the Oilers were mere inches away from taking a 2-1 lead. Instead, Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov cleared the puck before an Oiler could slot it home — and seconds later, Sam Reinhart scored the game-winner for the Panthers.
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov was the first player to touch the Cup following the triumph, but he immediately passed it along to Bobrovsky.
“He deserves it. He’s been here for a long time and has been our best player for a long time,” Barkov said of Bobrovsky. “He played incredible.”
As for Edmonton, the Western Conference champion couldn’t complete what would have been a historic comeback. The Oilers became the third team in NHL history to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final after falling behind 3-0. Connor McDavid, the best player in the NHL, was held without a point for the second game in a row. Following the crushing loss, McDavid was announced as the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the 2024 postseason.
McDavid is just the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe after playing for the losing team. Understandably, McDavid wasn’t in a celebratory mood upon receiving the award.
“Yeah, obviously, I guess it’s an honor. With the names on that trophy. But … yeah,” McDavid said.
“Proud of the way we fought all year. Behind the eight ball almost immediately. We fought an uphill climb for months and months and months,” McDavid said. “[This] just … sucks. We never stopped believing. We really believed we were going to get one. Lots of looks. It just didn’t go. It sucks. … It sucks.”
