The Florida Panthers are your 2024 Stanley Cup champions, recovering from blowing a 3-0 collection lead by taking Recreation 7 at residence by a rating of 2-1. The Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP goes to a skater from the shedding membership for the second time in NHL historical past, although. Oilers celebrity Connor McDavid receives the respect after recording a postseason-leading 34 assists and 42 factors in simply 24 video games, the previous of which is an all-time file.
Among the many notables for Florida is captain Aleksander Barkov changing into the primary Finn to steer his group to a Stanley Cup. Head coach Paul Maurice, who’s second all-time in video games coached with 1,848, additionally wins for the primary time.
The Cup-winning objective got here off the stick of Sam Reinhart, who beat Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner for the go-ahead objective with 4:51 left within the second interval. He has lower than per week to barter a contract extension with the Panthers to keep away from hitting the open market as the highest proper wing out there subsequent Monday.
Reinhart finishes the postseason second on Florida in objectives with 10, one behind Carter Verhaeghe’s 11. He netted the game-opening objective after going scoreless in Video games 2 by way of 6.
Whereas he misplaced out to McDavid for the Conn Smythe, Panthers star netminder Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t complaining about his first Cup win, both. The 2-time Vezina Trophy winner is up for the award once more this 12 months, and with a championship ring, he’s all however solidified his candidacy for the Hockey Corridor of Fame.
With the Cup Last over, consideration now turns towards an extremely busy opening to the offseason. The primary buyout window opens Wednesday, the NHL Awards are Thursday evening, the 2024 NHL Draft is Friday and Saturday, and the qualifying provide deadline is Sunday. That’s a significant calendar occasion for 5 days in a row earlier than the opening of free company and the technical begin of the brand new league 12 months on Monday, July 1.
