Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (L) and Florida Panthers Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (R)Photo credit: Hockeypatrol

The Florida Panthers have defeated the Edmonton Oilers in seven games to win the 2024 Stanley Cup.

Florida, who led the Atlantic Division in regular season points with 110, took an early 3-0 series lead against the Oilers, before a surprise comeback sparked a must-win game 7 ultimately won by the Panthers with a score of 2-1.

Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring for the Panthers early in the first period with a tap-in from Evan Rodrigues.

Edmonton responded back a little over two minutes later thanks to Mattias Janmark, the Swede ripping home a breakaway shot up high to tie the game at 1-1.

Sam Reinhart brought Florida back ahead, netting a goal with 4:49 left in the second from deep past Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner, creating a 2-1 lead for Florida.

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The title is the Panthers first ever Stanley Cup victory, having lost in the finals last year to the Florida Panthers in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Panthers are the third Florida-based team to win the Stanley Cup in the past five seasons, won by Tampa Bay back-to-back in 2020, 2021.

A Florida-based team has been in the finals in each matchup this decade, Tampa having lost to Colorado in 2022

Connor McDavid dominated offensively with 42 points, fourth all-time in NHL playoff scoring. His 34th assists passed Wayne Gretzky for most playoff assists (1987-88). Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksandr Barkov shared the scoring lead for Florida with 22.