Stanley Resides In Florida

It seems as of late that Lord Stanley likes to reside in the state of Florida. For the 3rd time in the last five seasons, the Stanley Cup calls the state of Florida home. The Lightning won back to back in 2020 and 20201. Now the Florida Panthers for the first time in their history can call themselves champions. Florida won their first cup in franchise history, beating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.

Before we get into it from the winning side, lets take a look for a moment from the Edmonton point of view.

Conor McDavid. Conn Smyth winner as MVP of the playoffs. Yes, its only the sixth time in league history somebody from the losing team has won MVP of the playoffs. It could have gone to Sergei Bobrovsky of the Panthers, but lets be real here, McDavid was the main reason why the Oilers were even in game seven of the finals. Sure, you can make the detraction that Conor was held off the scoreboard at the start of the series and over the last two games. But consider this. McDavid joins Gretzky and Lemieux as the only guys to collect 40 or more points in a single playoffs. He broke Gretzky's record for most assists in a single playoffs with 34.

McDavid is the best player on the planet and got a chance to really show it off. He came up just a tad short of the end goal, but he was a big reason that the Oilers were even in this game seven to begin with. There were times where it looked like this was going to really be the Oilers year. They had their high powered offense clicking and their defense was on lockdown. Then there were times they looked lost and at the end of game seven they had flat out run out of gas. And the drought for a Canadian franchise continues, as it has now been 31 years since a Canadian team has hoisted the Stanley Cup.

Now then, on to the Champs. This year was the 30th season of Panthers hockey in Sunrise. It was the 3rd ever finals appearance and second in a row. This year it had a different feel to it. Sure, in the middle of the finals it looked like this Panthers team was on the verge of having one of the greatest meltdowns in the history of professional sports. But they got it together when it mattered most in game seven.

For the longest time, the Panthers had played the role of little brother in a sense to the cross state rivals the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa has had all this success over the last almost twenty five years. The Panthers couldn't seem to hit that level that the Bolts had. So you always wondered what if, if you were and are a Panthers fan;. Over the last two years the chips started falling into place. They got the right mix of scoring defense and goaltending and in the end it finally paid off. The Panthers have stepped out of big brothers shadow.

Congratulations to the Florida Panthers. Your 2024 Stanley Cup Champions!