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Sport Nation
Panthers prove too slick for Oilers in Stanley Cup defence
AP • June 18th, 2025 3:32 pm
Photo: NHL
The Florida Panthers have repeated as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the final, becoming the NHL's first back-to-back winners since Tampa Bay in 2020 and '21 and the third team to do it this century.
Sam Reinhart scored four goals, becoming just the fourth player in league history to get that many in a game in the final. His third to complete the hat-trick sent rats, along with hats, flying onto the ice.
Matthew Tkachuk, one of the faces of the franchise, fittingly scored the Cup clincher on Tuesday night (Wednesday NZ time).
At the other end of the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced. The visitors' only goal came from fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin in garbage time, long after the outcome was decided.
Not long after the Lightning made three trips to the final in a row, Florida have done the same and now have the makings of a modern-day dynasty.
The Panthers have won 11 of 12 playoff series since Matthew Tkachuk arrived by trade and Paul Maurice took over as coach in the summer of 2022.
Stuart Skinner got the nod in Game 6 and was again done in by mistakes in front of him that ended with the puck in the net behind him and had his own blunder on Reinhart's second goal.
Connor McDavid tried to take over but was again stymied by Aleksander Barkov, Seth Jones and Bobrovsky. He finished with seven points in his second career trip to the final, again denied his first title.
Canada's Stanley Cup drought reached 31 seasons and 32 years dating back to the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
This run through Tampa Bay in five, Toronto in seven, Carolina in five and Edmonton in six showed how clinical the Panthers have become under Maurice, who has coached more NHL games than everyone except Scotty Bowman, and is now a two-time champion.
