(Sunrise) The Oilers’ comeback will remain a work in progress. The Florida Panthers won 2-1 on Monday in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
A year after being defeated in the final, the Panthers won their first Stanley Cup in their 31-year history.
They thus offered head coach Paul Maurice his first Stanley Cup, after nearly 30 years of career as head coach in the National League.
Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored in the victory.
Galvanized by an energetic start to the match, the Panthers were able to stop the bleeding in time. They took a 3-0 lead in this series, before games 4, 5 and 6 got away from them. The Oilers were also trying to become the second team in NHL history, after the Maple Leafs in 1942, to win the final series after falling behind 0-3.
The Oilers’ loss means the drought of Canadian teams without a Stanley Cup now stretches to 31 years. Since the Canadian’s triumph in 1993, the Oilers were the seventh Canadian team to reach the final.
Meanwhile, the Stanley Cup will parade in Florida for the third time in five seasons, following the Lightning’s successive triumphs in 2020 and 2021.
Details and reactions to come.
