SI:AM | Panthers Prevail in a Game 7 That Lived Up to the Hype

Florida won a thriller to avoid what would have been a historic collapse.

Florida won its first Stanley Cup on Monday. / Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I always love watching teams celebrate with the Stanley Cup.

In today’s SI:AM:

🐀 Panthers hang on

🎙️ JJ Redick’s daunting challenge
🏅 The difficulty for returning Olympians

What a game

There was a lot of talk before Monday night’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers that it was one of the biggest games in NHL history. And that wasn’t just ESPN trying to hype up a game it was broadcasting. It was true. For the first time since 1945, a team had squandered a 3–0 series lead in the Final. There was the potential for Game 7 to be the culmination of either a heroic comeback or a historic collapse (depending on your perspective), but in the end, the Panthers prevailed to win their first Stanley Cup, and, perhaps just as importantly, avoid joining the ignominious list of teams to blow a 3–0 lead.

It was a great game—one that was tight throughout and matched the intensity you’d expect in a Game 7. The crowd set the tone before puck drop as the Panthers and Oilers fans in attendance competed to belt out the loudest rendition of their respective national anthems. The fans stayed engaged the rest of the game, hardly getting off their feet and hanging on every bounce of the puck. And they had every reason to. The play on the ice was crisp, clean and physical.

The Panthers struck first on a fantastic deflection by Carter Verhaeghe a little over four minutes into the game but then the Oilers answered two minutes later when Cody Ceci threaded a tremendous lead pass to Mattias Janmark, who scored a breakaway goal to tie it.

The game-winning goal came late in the second period on a thrilling sequence that saw Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov bat the puck away from a gaping net to deny the Oilers a scoring chance. The Panthers collected the loose puck and got out quickly on the rush as a 3-on-2 opportunity developed. Edmonton defenseman Brett Kulak gave Florida’s Sam Reinhart too much room to shoot and he fired a wrister past Stuart Skinner for the goal that would prove to be the difference.

I wrote yesterday that the Panthers would need goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to step up to have any chance of winning, and that’s exactly what he did. Bobrovsky had struggled in the previous three games, taking himself out of the running for the Conn Smythe Trophy (awarded to the MVP of the playoffs), but he regained his previous form in Game 7. He was especially great in the third period as Edmonton turned up the pressure and out-shot Florida 8–4. Five of those Oilers shots came in a span of less than a minute as Edmonton maintained control of the puck in the offensive zone and bombarded Bobrovsky with quality shots. At the end of the sequence, Connor McDavid had the puck on his stick briefly in front of a sprawling Bobrovsky, but Gustav Forsling managed to get his stick in the way. The puck slid toward Zach Hyman, Edmonton’s leading goal scorer in the regular season, but Florida’s Brandon Montour did just enough to prevent Hyman from getting a clean shot off.

Bobrovsky did not win the Conn Smythe. That honor went to McDavid, who became the first player since 2003 and the first skater since 1976 to win the award while playing for a team that did not win the Cup. McDavid tallied 42 points this postseason, the fourth most in playoff history and 20 more than any non-Edmonton player had in these playoffs.

Bobrovsky did, however, earn another significant honor. As is tradition, the Stanley Cup was first handed to the Panthers’ captain, Aleksander Barkov. But one of the biggest honors in hockey is receiving the Cup second. It’s a way for a player’s teammates to acknowledge the contributions they made to winning the championship. After Barkov completed his celebratory lap around the rink, he handed the trophy off to Bobrovsky, who became the first goalie in NHL history to be handed the Cup from a captain, according to NHL.com.

“He deserved it,” Barkov said of the 14-year veteran Bobrovsky. “I think he’s been in the League for a long time. I think he deserves it. … He’s been unbelievable for us every single night this whole year. He’s a big reason why we won.”

Another man who waited a long time to get his hands on the Cup was Florida coach Paul Maurice. The 57-year-old began his head coaching career in 1995 with the Hartford Whalers and finally got to lift the Cup after almost 30 years.

Paul Maurice gets the Cup mid-interview and then gives one of the most heartfelt interviews you will ever see ❤️ pic.twitter.com/gMxHW4aL7U

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 25, 2024

Before he hoisted it above his head, Maurice leaned down and said something to the trophy.

“Oh, I’ve been chasing that for a while,” Maurice told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan immediately after. “Just some unkind words about how hard she was to catch.”

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Today’s Digital Cover is Stephanie Apstein’s story about the difficult expectations Olympic gold medalists face when returning to the Games.

• Kyle Koster thought ESPN rose to the occasion with its broadcast of Game 7.

• Chris Mannix wrote about the enormous task facing new Lakers coach JJ Redick, who was introduced to the media Monday in Los Angeles.

• Albert Breer spoke with Trevor Lawrence about his massive new contract extension.

• Nick Selbe’s latest MLB rookie roundup focuses on five National League hitters who are getting hot.

• Tennessee beat Texas A&M to win the Men’s College World Series for the first time in school history.

• The British anti-doping organization mistakenly issued a four-year ban to a boxer who died in March.

The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5. The Phillies’ 1-3-5 triple play, the first such triple play in almost 100 years.
4. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 471-foot home run over the Green Monster and clear out of Fenway Park.
3. Elly De La Cruz’s home run to a part of the ballpark I didn’t know was possible to reach.
2. Mattia Zaccagni’s stoppage-time goal to salvage a draw against Croatia and send Italy through to the knockout stage of the Euros.
1. Giants center fielder Heliot Ramos’s basket catch on the night the team honored Willie Mays.