For the first time in history, the Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions.
Florida won a 2-1 Game 7 thriller on Monday night over the Edmonton Oilers to secure a 4-3 series victory in the Stanley Cup Final. The win staved off a historic collapse after the Oilers rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to tie the series at 3-3.
After allowing 18 goals in consecutive losses in Games 4-6, Florida’s defense returned to form Monday night anchored by a stellar performance from goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who turned back 23 of 24 Edmonton shots, including a late Oilers flurry that threatened to tie the game.
Connor McDavid wins Conn Smythe in losing effort
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid secured the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the entire Stanley Cup playoffs despite his team’s loss. He’s the sixth player in NHL history to win the award from a losing team and the first since Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2003. He’s the second skater to ever win in a losing effort, joining Reggie Leach from the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers.
McDavid led the playoffs with 42 points and set an NHL record previously held by Wayne Gretzky with 34 playoff assists. But the Panthers stifled McDavid and the rest of the Oilers offense in Monday’s decisive Game 7.
The Florida home crowd rained down boos upon the Conn Smythe announcement, but found plenty of reason to cheer when Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in his 11 seasons with the franchise.
The first period got off to a scorching start. The Panthers secured the game’s first power play on a high-sticking penalty by Warren Foegele less than three minutes in. It didn’t directly convert to a power-play goal, but Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe broke the scoreless tie seconds after it ended.
Just as Edmonton went back to full strength, Florida’s Evan Rodrigues fired a slap shot from the left wall that missed the net wide right. But Verhaeghe knocked the puck from the air with his stick and snuck it past Stuart Skinner for a 1-0 Florida lead.
The goal with 15:33 left in the period gave Florida its first lead of the series since it finished Game 3 with a 4-3 win. It was short-lived.
Oilers answer
Just 2:17 later, Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark tied the game on a breakaway goal on a sensational assist from Cody Ceci.
After a Florida turnover, Ceci corralled the puck behind the Edmonton goal line then fired it up ice through three Florida defenders. Janmark secured the pass ahead of…