Florida Panthers are 2024 Stanley Cup Champions

SUNRISE — For the first time in their 30 year franchise history, the Florida Panthers have won the Stanley Cup.

In the winner takes all Game 7, the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena, becoming the 2024 Stanley Cup Champions.

Florida didn’t make it easy on themselves, losing three straight games after going up 3-0 in the series — making way for the first Stanley Cup Final Game 7 since 2019. 

On Monday night, the Panthers opened the scoring 4:27 into the game  after Carter Verhaeghe beat Stuart Skinner for his 11th goal of the postseason.

The Panthers had conceded the opening goal for the past three games.

Verhaeghe’s goal got the home crowd buzzing, but Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark silenced the Florida faithful just 2:17 later — beating Sergei Bobrovsky above the blocker on a breakaway.

The game remained tied at 1-1 until the final five minutes of the second period, then Florida’s top scorer got them the lead. 

Off the rush, Sam Reinhart buried his tenth goal of the postseason shot short side to give Florida a 2-1 lead with 4:49 left in the period. This would end up being the goal to win the Stanley Cup.

With the win, the Panthers saved themselves from becoming just the second team in NHL history from blowing a 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final (Detroit, 1942 loss to the Leafs).

This is also the first Stanley Cup for Panthers head coach Paul Maurice.