Redemption is near, Panthers look to keep Prince of Wales Trophy in Sunrise

Teams that lose in the Stanley Cup Final usually don’t get another chance for a long time, if ever.

But for the Florida Panthers, their second chance could come now.

Last year, Florida watched in heartbreak as the Vegas Golden Knights hoisted the Stanley Cup in front of them.

After a year of fighting like hell, the Panthers are back to where they were last season — playing for a spot in the final.

After defeating the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the ECF on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, the Panthers have put themselves in a position to win the Eastern Conference at home and get back to the Stanley Cup Final for a second straight year. 

‘REDemption’ is the playoff slogan for the current Panthers team and they can give themselves a chance to do that on Saturday night in Sunrise. 

“There’s no reason to be nervous,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. “We’ve been in a lot of situations like this, so it’s just business as usual, play our game and you on’t really think about all the outside, all the other stuff that’s going on… We got to win a hockey game, so that’s our focus.”

The opportunity for redemption is rare in today’s NHL. If the Panthers were to finish the job and win the Prince of Wales Trophy, they’d become the first team since the 2008-09 Pittsburgh Penguins to make the Stanley Cup Final after losing the previous season.

Pittsburgh ended up winning the Cup that year. 

Before speaking of the final, let’s circle back to May 24, 2023 — Game 4 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Final.

The Panthers held a 3-0 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes and had a chance to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996, on home ice in Sunrise.

With the game tied in the dying seconds of regulation, Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk scored one of the most iconic goals in franchise history — beating Frederik Andersen with just 4.3 seconds remaining in the game to send his team to the Cup final.

While the Panthers Cinderella run would come to an end in just five games against the Knights, it helped shape the current team — which is far stronger on paper than the previous —  for what they need to do to finish the job.

“The summer was very very fast. I don’t know if sadness is the right word but we know how hard it is to get there and the missed opportunity,” said Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who went 21 years between Cup Final appearances. “It was also somewhat peaceful because I don’t think there was anything left of our team.”

Maurice said the sadness of the loss was gone once he began prepping videos for training camp. The Panthers only used their playoff tape for the camp videos. That’s when Maurice said he “got in a good mood.”

“You start to remember the plays, the effort — all that. But the people,” Maurice said with a smile. “How to drive the net? Well that’s the Radko Gudas clip… I appreciated the year. All of my sense of loss was gone probably about the middle of to late August last year when I started going through the video of the season.”

The Panthers run last year was special. They learned how to win against the best, but more importantly, they learned how to take a loss and move on.  

Heading into Saturday’s potential series clincher, the Panthers say they won’t stray away from their game. And unlike the position they were in last year against Carolina, the series is 3-2, not 3-0.

“You got to treat it like a regular game. Especially with how tight the series is,” Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour said. “This is a team (the Rangers) that’s on the brink of their season being finished so we expect their best. It’s going to be a nice, loud building for us and you’re going to get our best as well so it’s going to be a good game.

Their chance for retribution is just around the corner, all they have to do is take it — and they can on Saturday night in Sunrise.