Panthers recover, defeat Oilers in Game 7 of Stanley Cup Final for 1st title | NHL.com

Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist, Sam Reinhart scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves for the Panthers, who defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.

The Panthers won their first Stanley Cup championship.

Mattias Janmark scored, and Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for the Oilers. Connor McDavid, who led the NHL with 42 points (eight goals, 34 assists) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, was held off the score sheet.

McDavid was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs. He’s the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe while playing for the losing team and the first since goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 2003 playoffs. Anaheim lost the Cup Final to the New Jersey Devils in seven games.

Florida lost the previous three games after taking a 3-0 lead in the series. It was the first time since 1945 that a Stanley Cup Final went the distance after a team took a 3-0 lead.

Edmonton was trying to become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to pull off the reverse sweep, winning Games 4-7 after losing Games 1-3. It was also trying to become the first Canada-based team to win the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

But the Panthers responded after being outscored 18-5 in Games 4-6 to stop the Oilers from making history in Game 7.

Bobrovsky, who allowed 12 goals on 58 shots in the three previous games (.793 save percentage, 5.06 goals-against average), made five saves in the first period, nine in the second and nine more in the third.

The Panthers scored the first goal for the first time since Game 3. They never trailed.

Verhaeghe scored his first goal since Game 1. Reinhart scored his first since Game 3.

Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 4:27 of the first period, six seconds after their first power play of the game expired.

He played the puck from behind the net to Evan Rodrigues along the right-wall half-wall, and Rodrigues whipped a shot from there to the net. It looked like it was going wide right, but Verhaeghe got his stick on it in front, deflecting it down and through Skinner’s legs.

The Oilers got the goal back back quickly with Janmark scoring on a breakaway to make it 1-1 at 6:44.

Janmark got behind Florida’s defense and took a stretch pass from Cody Ceci out of the defensive zone, up the right side and into the offensive zone. He went in alone on Bobrovsky and scored with a high forehand to the blocker side.

Reinhart, though, gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 15:11 of the second period, scoring with a low, short-side shot from inside the right face-off circle.

Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov cleared the puck away from the Panthers crease before he fell into the net. The puck went to Verhaeghe, who moved it up to Reinhart.

Reinhart was looking for a pass as he went through the neutral zone and across the blue line, but eventually chose to shoot, and the puck squeezed through Skinner to give Florida its second lead of the game.

Edmonton forwards McDavid and Zach Hyman each had a look at what was an open net with just over seven minutes left in the third period, but neither could get enough of the puck.

Sam Bennett and Brandon Montour dove into the crease to help Bobrovsky keep the puck out of the net on Hyman’s attempt, preserving Florida’s lead at 12:56.

Skinner went to the bench for the extra skater with 1:10 left, but the Oilers couldn’t tie it, and the Panthers froze the puck in the corner for the last six seconds to win the Stanley Cup.