The Florida Panthers repeated as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the final on Tuesday night, becoming the NHL's first back-to-back winners since Tampa Bay in 2020 and '21 and the third team to do it this century.
Sam Reinhart scored four goals, becoming just the sixth player in league history and first since Maurice Richard in 1957 to get that many in a game in the final. His third to complete the hat trick sent rats, along with hats, flying onto the ice. Matthew Tkachuk, one of the faces of the franchise, fittingly scored the Cup clincher.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced, closing the door on a rematch with the same end result. The only goal came from fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin in garbage time, long after the outcome was decided.
That was followed by chants of "We want the Cup!" as time ticked down. The Panthers already had it. Now they get to keep it.
"This is as good as the first one," Reinhart said. "We learned some lessons. We stayed on the gas, foot on the pedal, and obviously the result speaks for itself."
Not long after the Lightning made three trips to the final in a row, Florida has done the same and now has the makings of a dynasty. The Panthers have won 11 of 12 playoff series since T kachuk arrived by trade and Paul Maurice took over as coach in the summer of 2022.
Sam Bennett led all goal-scorers this postseason with 15, and Marchand had six in the final alone.
Bennett won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Barkov handed the Cup to first-time champion Nate Schmidt, and all the others winning it for the first time got it soon after. The Panthers spent more time leading during this Stanley Cup Final than any previous team in history, 255:49 minutes in all.
