Oilers' Stanley Cup push falls at the final hurdle in narrow loss to Panthers
The Canadian Stanley Cup drought continues.
After remarkably coming back from three games down to force a winner-takes-all game seven in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, the Edmonton Oilers fell just short of winning the Cup on Monday night, losing 2-1 to the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers opened the scoring less than five minutes into the first period. As Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner moved across his net to try and stop a shot from Evan Rodrigues, Carter Verhaeghe tipped the puck in front of the net, redirecting it through Skinner’s legs.
It was their first lead since the third game of the series, but it didn’t last long as the Oilers wasted no time responding. Cody Ceci spotted Mattias Janmark making a move up the ice before threading a pass to him, and the Swedish forward made no mistake on the breakaway, beating Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game.
Evan Bouchard nearly gave Edmonton the lead minutes later with one of his trademark shots from the point, but his effort struck the outside of the post. The Panthers outshot the Oilers in the first period, eight to six, but after 20 minutes the game was tied at one goal apiece.
The second period was evenly matched as well, but the home team found a breakthrough with under five minutes to play before the second intermission. Seconds after the Oilers were inches away from scoring at one end of the ice, Sam Reinhart gave the Panthers the lead again with a wrist shot that beat Skinner on his glove side.
That goal ensured Florida had the lead after 40 minutes, despite a late push from the Oilers to tie things up.
The third period was all about the goaltenders. After Skinner made a big stop to prevent the Panthers powerplay from tying the game, Bobrovsky — who had a shaky few games leading up to game seven — provided some late-game heroics in the third period.
With several Oilers in front of the net, Bobrovsky first made a big stop on Connor McDavid, before denying Zach Hyman on the rebound, freezing the puck to keep his team’s lead intact.
Edmonton continued to up the tempo, desperate to find an equalizing goal. Skinner was pulled with over a minute left in favour of getting an extra skater on the ice but the late push wasn’t enough, and the Panthers held on for the 2-1 victory and the Stanley Cup.
It is the first Stanley Cup in Panthers history, coming in their 30th anniversary season and one year after losing in the final to the Vegas Golden Knights. The team also previously made the final in 1995–96, just their third season in franchise history.
“It’s not what I thought it would be, it’s so much better,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said to Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas after the game. “Dad, your name is going up with your heroes — Béliveau, Richard, Howe, Lindsay... Maurice."
Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player to his team in the 2023-24 Stanley Cup playoffs, after a historic run that saw him pick up 42 points in 25 games. McDavid didn’t come out of the Oilers locker room to receive the award, however. He is the first player since Jean-Sébastien Giguère in 2003 to win the award on the losing team.
The Stanley Cup drought for Canadian teams is now 31 years long, since the Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings in 1993.
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