SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Prince of Wales Trophy was carried onto the ice when time expired, as an arena filled with Florida Panthers fans roared in delight and dozens of players and staffers rushed over to pose with the prize. Last year, the Panthers touched the trophy. This year, they didn't. The message was clear. The Stanley Cup is the only trophy they want. For the second straight year, they have a chance at hockey's greatest prize. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots, Sam Bennett and Vladimir
Monthly Archives: June 2024
Panthers oust Rangers, return to Stanley Cup Final
The Florida Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 6 on Saturday to close out their third-round series and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive season.
Florida will play the winner of the Edmonton Oilers-Dallas Stars series with a chance to win its first championship in franchise history. The Oilers are currently ahead 3-2.
"It's amazing, it's tough to describe right now," captain Aleksander Barkov told Sportsnet. "So proud of the guys, but we all know the job is not finished. We still want to get that big prize and work really hard for it."
The Panthers' Sam Bennett opened the scoring Saturday in the final minute of the first period. Vladimir Tarasenko added an insurance marker midway through the final frame before Artemi Panarin notched his first goal of the series to bring the Rangers within a goal.
Game 6 was the fifth consecutive one-goal contest between the teams, but Florida was the superior team over the series by most metrics. The Panthers controlled 57.23% of shot attempts, 60.85% of scoring chances, and 62.21% of expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Igor Shesterkin was the primary reason New York put up a fight, as the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner posted a .930 save percentage in the series. The Rangers won the Presidents' Trophy with 114 points, but the league's top regular-season team hasn't won the Stanley Cup since the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.
The Panthers are the first team to return to the Stanley Cup Final the year after losing since the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins, who won in their second attempt.
"It's so special. It's just so much buy-in, so much hard work. So much commitment to playing the right way," winger Matthew Tkachuk told Sportsnet.
"Everybody who's new this year has been awesome, and the returning guys really, really came back with this on their mind. We wanted to get back to this moment, and we're here. Hopefully, we can keep this thing going."
Florida will now have a week off, with Game 1 of the final scheduled for June 8. The Panthers will have home-ice advantage if Edmonton advances but will start on the road if Dallas prevails.
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Rangers’ promising season comes to disappointing end with 2-1 loss to Panthers in Game 6
The Rangers’ promising season, one full of Stanley Cup hopes, came to a disappointing end Saturday night when they lost to the Florida Panthers, 2-1, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Sunrise, Fla.
NHL Playoffs: Panthers knock off Rangers to reach 2nd straight Stanley Cup Final
The Panthers will face either the Oilers or the Stars.
Brodzinski in for Rangers for Game 6 against Florida, Rempe out
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The New York Rangers put Jonny Brodzinski back into their lineup for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final against the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, taking the spot of little-used Matt Rempe. Brodzinski appeared in only two of New York's first 15 games in this post-season, going without a point in Games 1 and 2 of Round 2 against Carolina. He had six goals and 13 assists in 57 games during the regular season. Rempe played only four shifts in Game 5, staying on the ice
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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has never been this close to playing for a Stanley Cup since the Edmonton Oilers took him with the first overall draft pick in 2011. It's been even longer for the franchise that has won the Cup five times. Edmonton was right in the middle of a span of 10 consecutive seasons without even making the playoffs when Nugent-Hopkins was drafted. And while the Oilers went into this season considered a Cup contender, they were 5-12-1 in November and already had made a coaching change.
Bottom feeders in November, Oilers sit one win away from Stanley Cup final
DALLAS — Kris Knoblauch arrived to find a locker room in turmoil. The Edmonton Oilers — among the Stanley Cup favourites when training camp opened — had got off to a disastrous start to the NHL season. The club was in a tailspin, languishing near the bottom of the standings despite a roster led by superstar forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. There were plenty of questions, and not many answers, when Knoblauch took over for the fired Jay Woodcroft in November with the Oilers sitting a st