Stanley Cup Final: Panthers defeat Oilers 2-1 for first championship

SUNRISE — It’s raining rats at Amerant Bank Arena. For the first time in franchise history, the Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions.

With their backs against the wall after seeing a 3-0 series lead vanish, the Panthers showed out and played Game 7 on their terms. They shut down the Edmonton Oilers Monday night and took a 2-1 victory to win the Stanley Cup Final.

"It's not a dream anymore; it's a reality. I can't believe it," said Matthew Tkachuk. "So thankful for these group of guys. It's the best guys. Something really special here with what we have."

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Following a stretch of nightmare first periods, the Panthers managed to set the tone in Game 7. Carter Verhaeghe deflected an Evan Rodrigues shot home seconds after a power play expired 4:27 into the game. Edmonton's Mattias Janmark answered back just over two minutes later, but Florida was not discouraged. The Panthers kept their foot on the gas and kept hounding Edmonton on the forecheck.

Sam Reinhart restored Florida’s lead with 4:49 to go in the second period, wiring a wrist shot home from the face-off dot for what proved to be the game-winner. Dmitry Kulikov saved a goal on the other end seconds earlier — clearing the puck from a wide-open crease before an Oiler could get to it — and picked up an assist for his efforts.

The Panthers kept foiling the Oilers in the third period, outshooting them 17-15 while stuffing any attempt of a comeback, and held out for the win and the bedlam that followed.

Here are three takeaways from Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final:

Barkov, Forsling completely shut down Connor McDavid

After Connor McDavid terrorized the Panthers to the tune of eight combined points in Games 4 and 5, he was held off the scoresheet entirely in the final two games. In Game 7, it was Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling who shadowed McDavid and shut him down.

McDavid went without a shot for the first period. When Barkov was on the ice, his line was generating more offensive zone time. It was his line that scored the game’s winning goal. Forsling was just as good, sticking on his man like glue. They did their job and shut down the best player in the world to win the Cup.

Struggling Florida stars break out of slump, show out

If the Panthers wanted to compete with the star power of the Oilers, they needed their stars to come through. That wasn’t the case during Games 4-6, but it was surely the case in Game 7.

Reinhart and Verhaeghe came into Game 7 coming off rough stretches. Verhaeghe had just one goal in his past eight games and was demoted to the second power play unit. Reinhart was held off the scoresheet for all three games Florida lost in this series after a 57-goal regular season.

Both of them came through and scored big goals on Monday night. Verhaeghe added the primary assist on Reinhart’s goal.

Sergei Bobrovsky was back with a vengeance

After looking like a shell of himself in Games 4-6, Bobrovsky came up with 22 saves on 23 shots to win the Panthers the Stanley Cup.

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When Florida was stuck on the penalty kill with Kevin Stenlund on the ice without a stick, he came up with a masterful glove save early in the second period. He did so again, sprawling out and robbing McDavid on the doorstep late in the third. He had some help on Eetu Luostarinen on that one, who dove and stuffed the rebound from Leon Draisaitl.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Stanley Cup Final: Florida Panthers defeat Edmonton Oilers in Game 7