Florida Panthers WIN Stanley Cup with 2-1 win over Edmonton Oilers in crucial Game 7 to seal team’s first-ever championship

The Florida Panthers contained the relentless attack of the Edmonton Oilers in the third period to win Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final 2-1 on Monday.

The two teams share the goals at the end of the first period. Carter Verhaeghe put Florida up 1-0 with a goal nearly five minutes into the first stanza.

A few minutes later, Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark fired a wrist shot to tie the score heading into the second.

Sam Reinhart would be the only scorer midway through the period, giving the Panthers the 2–1 lead they would hold to win their first Stanley Cup title as a franchise.

The Oilers desperately tried to score a goal in the final period, outshooting the Panthers in the third with nine shots on goal to Florida’s four.

Edmonton would also have had more shots on goal the entire game – 24 to Florida’s 21. The winners, however, had 31 hits to Edmonton’s 20 and 17 blocks to the Oilers’ 14.

After being forced to flee in the final period, the now champions produced 13 giveaways and 12 takeaways. Meanwhile, the Oilers had nine and seven, respectively.

Edmonton defeated the Los Angeles Kings in five games, the Vancouver Canucks in seven and the Dallas Stars in six games to secure their spot in the final.

On the other hand, the Panthers’ championship run began with a sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a six-game series against 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 as Edmonton came back to force a win. Seeking their sixth franchise 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 beating the Oilers 3-0 in the series.

Florida contained Edmonton’s relentless attack in the third, totaling 20 blocks on the night

Edmonton had more shots on goal throughout the game – 24 to Florida’s 21.

The only other team to achieve this feat was the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 against the Detroit Red Wings. THE

The Panthers were outscored 18-5 in Games 4, 5 and 6 to lose three chances to win the Cup.

They tapped seven-time Grammy winner Alanis Morissette — she was born in Canada and acquired dual U.S. citizenship in 2005 — to sing the national anthems. Almost no one could hear him; Oilers fans drowned it out for “O Canada,” Panthers fans did the same for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” After that, Panthers legend Roberto Luongo hit the ceremonial bass drum; he urged fans to “let’s go” with an additional word that had to be beeped several times.

The pre-match was noisy. The stage was set. And the teams came out absolutely fired up.

The Panthers routed the Lightning, Bruins and Rangers en route to their first title.

Carter Verhaeghe put Florida up 1-0 with a goal five minutes into the first period

Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark scored a wrist shot to tie the score heading into the second period

Sam Reinhart would be the only scorer midway through the period, giving Florida a 2-1 advantage

The Panthers scored the first goal just 4:27 into the game when Verhaeghe waved his stick at the puck that was shot from the left side by Evan Rodrigues and got just enough to redirect it past Skinner for a lead from 1-0 – the first. Florida has led since the end of Game 3.

They waited more than a week to return to the summit. They stayed there for a little over two minutes.

Janmark got behind the Florida defense and beat Bobrovsky over the right shoulder at 6:44, tying things up and ensuring that this Game 7 of the Finals – like the previous 17 such games – would not would not end 1-0.

It stayed that way despite wild ebbs and flows – the Oilers controlled long stretches, the Panthers would counter, back and forth – until Reinhart scored late in the second to give Florida a 2-1 lead . It capped a wild sequence, one where Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov found himself 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 Florida single-season record, and it was up to the Panthers to make it stand.

Florida was an NHL-best 44-0-3 Monday while leading after two periods this season. An NHL-best 85-2-6 in this situation in the two seasons under coach Paul Maurice as well.

They slammed the door one last time. And the Cup was their reward.

“This is the best moment of my life so far,” said veteran Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. “Nothing tops that.”