Panthers beat Oilers to claim first Stanley Cup
The Florida Panthers lost against the Las Vegas Knights in last year's Stanley Cup final
- Published
The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their franchise history.
Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored for the Panthers, either side of Mattias Janmark's effort, to seal a 2-1 victory and 4-3 series win.
The Oilers had trailed 3-0 in the series but fought back to force a deciding game.
"I've been chasing that for a long time," said Florida coach Paul Maurice.
"It was perfect Florida Panther fashion - nothing's easy. Nothing's easy for us."
The Oilers were hoping to become just the second team in NHL history to overturn a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup.
Florida had home advantage for the seventh and final game in the series and it took only four minutes and 27 seconds for Verhaeghe to score.
The Canadian forward met Evan Rodrigues' shot to tip beyond Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.
Janmark equalised for the visitors when collecting Cody Ceci's pass before coolly finishing.
Reinhart popped up with the winner in the second period, just moments after the Oilers saw an attempt shovelled off the goal line.
"They say this is the hardest trophy to win in sports, and you can't imagine how hard it is, until you do it," Rodrigues said.
"But getting to game seven, it took pressure off of us, and we did it the hard way. But it was a perfect outcome."