Panthers Hold Off Oilers to Win Stanley Cup

In the end, it was a bridge too far for Edmonton.

The Oilers trailed the Florida Panthers three games to none in the Stanley Cup Finals. It looked like the Oilers were finished, but that was premature. Edmonton came roaring back and reeled off three straight victories, tying the series and setting up a decisive Game 7 in Florida on June 24th. Perhaps energized by the home crowd, the Panthers picked themselves up and ground out a 2-1 victory to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, thus avoiding a collapse for the ages. Edmonton fell just short of one of the greatest comebacks in NHL history. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs remain the only team to win four in a row after losing the first three in a Stanley Cup Final, beating the Detroit Red Wings that year.

Carter Verhaeghe scored 4:27 into the first period to give Florida the lead. Mattias Janmark tied it up at 6:44. At 15:11 of the second period, Sam Reinhart scored what proved to be the game winner. Edmonton had their share of chances in the third period, but the shut down defense of the Panthers, led by goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (23 saves) held Edmonton scoreless. Connor McDavid, coming off a pair of four point games, was held without a point in the final two. Despite this, the Edmonton center was awarded the Conn Smyth Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs, a rarity for a player not on the champions. But the award is for the entire body of work in the post season, and McDavid scored eight goals and 34 assists in the playoffs. Leon Draisaitl, the other Big Gun in the Oilers lineup (41 goals and 65 assists in the regular season), was held to just three assists in the Finals.

Once again, a Canadian team failed to win the Stanley Cup; the last one was in 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens topped the Los Angeles Kings in five games.