Carter Verhaeghe scored one goal and assisted on another to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
Panthers’ Sam Reinhart scored the Cup-winning goal to give the Panthers a 7-3 lead before the lead evaporated and they won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. Edmonton’s loss ended the streak of 31 years since a Canadian team last won the Stanley Cup. The Montreal Canadiens last brought the cup back north in 1993. Since then, Canadian-based city teams have tried seven times to win the title: Vancouver in 1994 and 2011, Calgary in 2004, the Oilers in 2006, Ottawa in 2007 and the Canadiens in 2021. But all to no avail.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves for the Panthers, nine of which came in the final frame, with his biggest play being a diving stop of Zach Hyman during a goal-line scramble with seven minutes left.
Mattias Janmark scored for Edmonton, and goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots. Edmonton captain Connor McDavid was held scoreless for the second straight game.
“It’s not a dream anymore. It’s not a dream. It’s reality,” said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who transferred to Florida two summers ago with the goal of winning a title. “It’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable. … I can’t believe how good the last two years have been. I’m so grateful for this team. This is a great place, great players. It’s really special to be here.”
The Oilers, who were bidding to become just the second team in history to win the championship and the first since 1942 after surrendering a 3-0 deficit in the finals, have lost in Game 7 of the past two Stanley Cup Finals, including a narrow loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
Reinhart gave Florida its second lead of the night at 15:11 of the second period. Seconds after the Oilers nearly scored amid heavy back-and-forth on both ends, Reinhart raced up the ice and found his mark just outside the right faceoff dot for his 10th point of the playoffs.
The Oilers dominated the third period, holding the Panthers to just four shots in the period and just two with 14:43 left, but Edmonton couldn’t tie the game in a tight contest despite some fierce pressure in front of the Florida goal.
“This is the best moment of my life,” Panthers veteran defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “Nothing beats this.”
The teams traded goals just over two minutes apart in the first period. Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead with his first goal since scoring the opener in Game 1 of the Finals. Verhaeghe deflected a shot from Evan Rodriguez at 4:27 for his 11th playoff goal. Janmark answered with a breakaway chance at 6:44 with a top-shelf shot for his second goal of the series and fourth of the postseason.
Instead of repeating history with a complete comeback, the Oilers are just the second team in history to lose a deciding game in the Finals after being down 3-0 to force a Game 7. In 1945, the Detroit Red Wings forced the Toronto Maple Leafs into a Game 7 in the same scenario, but three years later the Maple Leafs rallied from three games down to beat the Red Wings in the Finals.
McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He wasn’t in it for the trophy. It wasn’t what he wanted anyway. They were in it for the Cup, and Florida was the team that hoisted it.
