Stanley Cup: Panthers beat Oilers to win series in 6 games

The Florida Panthers repeated as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the final on Tuesday night, 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.

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At the other end of the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced, closing the door on a rematch with the same end result. The only goal came from fellow Russian Vasily Podkolzin in garbage time, long after the outcome was decided.

That was followed by chants of “We want the Cup!” as time ticked off the clock. The Panthers already had it. Now they get to keep it.

Not long after the Lightning made three trips to the final in a row, Florida has done the same and now has 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.

The only time they have been on the wrong side of a handshake line was the final in Vegas in 2023, only after several key players were dealing with banged up and gutting through significant injuries.

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From the core of Tkachuk, Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett on down the roster, they were much healthier this time around and were boosted by key trade deadline additions Brad Marchand and Seth Jones. Bennett led all goal-scorers this post-season with 15, and Marchand had six in the final alone.

Getting depth contributions from throughout the lineup allowed them to overpower Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers, who struggled with Florida’s ferocious forecheck and switched goaltenders multiple times in the final. 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.

McDavid tried to take over but was again stymied by Barkov, 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 to Montreal in 1993. Teams in the U.S. Sun Belt have won it five of the past six times, four of them in Florida.

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.

So is Marchand, who last hoisted the Cup in 2011 with the Boston Bruins. The 14-year gap is the third-longest in league history, just shy of 16 for Chris Chelios from 1986 to 2002 and 15 for Mark Recchi from ’91 to ’06.

- Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press

Here is CTV News Edmonton’s Craig Ellingson’s live blog of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final:

9:10 p.m. - Panthers parade Cup on ice

Florida Panthers players take the Stanley Cup for victory laps on the ice at Amerant Arena in Sunrise, Fla., where they won Game 6 of the National Hockey League championship 5-1 over the Edmonton Oilers to take the series in six games.

9:05 p.m. - Bennett named playoffs MVP

Panthers forward Sam Bennett, who scored five of his 15 post-season goals this spring in the Stanley Cup Final, wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL’s playoff most-valuable player.

8:49 p.m. - Panthers win 2nd Cup in a row

Final score: 5-1 Panthers. With the fans at Amerant Arena in Sunrise, Fla., singing ‘Na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye,’ the Panthers win their second straight Stanley Cup in a row by grinding down and stopping the Oilers attack, much like they have all series. Florida wins Game 6 5-1 and takes the series in six games.

8:42 p.m. - Podkolzin puts Oilers on scoreboard

5-1 Panthers. Vasily Podkolzin puts in a rare rebound chance underneath Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for the Oilers’ first goal of the game.

8:40 p.m. - 4 goals for Reinhart

5-0 Panthers. With the Oilers net empty for an extra attacker (still, see below), Sam Reinhart scores his fourth goal of the game from the neutral zone with 5:05 left in the third period.

8:34 p.m. - Empty-netter gives Reinhart hat-trick

4-0 Panthers. Sam Reinhart scores his third goal of the game into an empty net with Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker with 6:34 left in the third period.

8:08 p.m. - 2nd intermission thoughts

• Much like the first period, the Oilers showed urgency throughout the second but couldn’t capitalize on their chances in the same way the Panthers have.
• And much like the first period – and let’s be honest, the entire series outside maybe Game 1 – Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, never mind every Oiler, are having a hard time finding time and space to work due to the suffocating Panthers defence.

7:52 p.m. - 3-goal lead for Panthers

Aleksander Barkov, at the end of a dominant shift down low, passes the puck to a tied-up Sam Reinhart in front of the Oilers’ crease. It goes off Reinhart’s skate with 2:24 left in the second period for a 3-0 Panthers lead.

7:19 p.m. - Perry misses 2-on-1 chance

Corey Perry can’t convert a Connor McDavid pass on a two-on-one opportunity 2:48 into the second period, failing to get it past Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

7:10 p.m. - 1st intermission thoughts

• The Oilers looked engaged throughout the period and generated chances, but ...;
• Sloppy puck handling led to both Panthers goals;
• The Panthers, too, weren’t perfect in the puck-handling department, uncharacteristically turning the puck at times. However, the Oilers didn’t get clean chances to capitalize, unlike the Panthers.
• On Tkachuk’s late goal, the Panthers had been pressing and holding the Oilers in their zone in the minutes leading up to it. Tkachuk walked in untouched to the slot and shot the puck past Skinner through some traffic from about 15 feet;
• Florida has outscored Edmonton 9-0 in the first period for four games in a row.
• The advanced stats story favours the Panthers: the shots are 9-8 Florida, but they had 13 scoring chances, five of them high-danger, to Edmonton’s three scoring chances, one of them high-danger.

6:55 p.m. - Tkachuk adds to lead

2-0 Panthers. Forward Matthew Tkachuk unloads a rising wrist shot from the slot that Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner gets a piece of with his trapper, but it flies into the net anyway. The goal comes off an Oilers turnover at the Panthers blue line.

6:48 p.m. - Solid pad save

Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner gets his right pad on a hard, dangerous Sam Bennett shot 14-39 into the first period to keep the game 1-0.

6:39 p.m. - Kane, Bennett to box

The Oilers’ Evander Kane and the Panthers’ Sam Bennett are sent to the penalty box for slashing and roughing, respectively, resulting in two minutes of four-on-four play.

6:28 p.m. - Reinhart scores first

1-0 Panthers. Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard bobbles the puck at his blueline and Panthers forward Sam Reinhart takes advtange, taking it from him him and shooting it over the left shoulder of goalie Stuart Skinner for the game’s first goal 4:36 into it.

6:21 p.m. - Puck drops on Game 6

Captains Connor McDavid of the Oilers and Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers take the opening faceoff to start the game.

3:05 p.m. - Skinner to start in goal

• Stuart Skinner is getting the call for Game 6. The Oilers goalie will start Tuesday night, head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the morning skate. Skinner was pulled in Game 4 after allowing three goals on 17 shots in the first period. Calvin Pickard took over the net as the Oilers won that game in overtime, but lost as their Game 5 starter.
• Forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins didn’t skate Tuesday morning, but Knoblauch said he expects the 15-year veteran of the team to play in Game 6.

Other lineup changes announced by Knoblauch:

• Kasperi Kapanen replaces Viktor Arvidsson in the forward ranks;
• John Klingberg draws in on defence, replacing Troy Stecher.

Heading in

This is it. The Edmonton Oilers need to win tonight.

If they do, they’ll get to play one more game. And not just any game: Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.

That should sound familiar. Last year, the Oilers and Panthers took it to the best-of-seven limit in the Cup Final, won by Florida.

If the Oilers lose, their season is over.

The Panthers lead the best-of-seven series heading into Tuesday’s tilt three games to two.