Are the Miami Heat Influencing Their Hockey Counterparts, the Florida Panthers?

The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers both upset the No. 1 seed in their respective leagues.

Florida sports teams upsetting their league’s top seeds seems to be a trend. It started with the Miami Heat’s gentleman sweep against the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, the Florida Bruins completed a 3-1 comeback against the 65-win Boston Bruins. Boston was the favorite in the NHL to win the Stanley Cup, until they were eliminated by the Panthers Sunday night.

Heat fans celebrated this victory, supporting their hockey counterparts.

Heat 🤝 Panthers
First round upsets

— 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 (@HeatvsHaters) May 1, 2023

NUMBER ONE SEEDS?! Bye bye bucks and bruins!!!! Let’s gooooo Heat and Panthers!!! #TimeToHunt #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/WwB5pgpHvU

— 305 Sports Babe ❣️ (@305sportsbabe) May 1, 2023

Tough week to be a #1 seed!

LFG @FlaPanthers 🐀🐀🐀🐀 on to the next!

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) May 1, 2023

They couldn’t miss an opportunity to troll a Boston-based team, given their historic rivalry with the Celtics.

they blew a 3-1 lead 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/YQpT2ER99K

— orangie (@orangie) May 1, 2023

SOUTH FLORIDA OWNS BOSTON

— Chad⭐️⭐️ (@cfc_chad) May 1, 2023

The confidence in upsetting the top seeds and championship favorites instills optimism for Heat and Panthers fans. The Heat are up 1-0 against the New York Knicks in the eastern semifinals, nearly a month after narrowly defeating the Chicago Bulls in the play-in tournament. What was once viewed as a lost season for Miami is now being re-evaluated as another potential run toward the NBA Finals.

The Panthers are experiencing that same underdog mentality after a massive upset victory. The Toronto Maple Leafs are still favored in the next series, but Florida is determined to prove this win wasn’t a fluke.

“The feeling in the locker room was unbelievable,” Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky said. “We beat a really good team, a really strong team. I think we deserve it with the adversity we had all season long.”

Let’s hope the Panthers don’t go too far though. Otherwise, South Florida fans may be too preoccupied with their NHL team, which will turn heads from their NBA team.

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.