(CNN) — For the second year in a row, the Florida Panthers have conquered the Edmonton Oilers and lifted the Stanley Cup as kings of the NHL.
The Panthers’ back-to-back crowns have both come at the expense of the Oilers, this time in six games after last year’s seven-game classic series. With three consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, Florida has officially achieved dynasty status.
With a 5-1 clinching win in Tuesday night’s Game 6, this year’s victory over the Oilers came 357 days after their last Cup-clinching win.
With a raucous home crowd chanting, “We want the Cup,” behind them and the prospect of a 2,500-mile trip back to Edmonton looming, the Panthers jumped at the opportunity to win the Cup on home ice.
The Panthers’ trio of veteran centers were the difference throughout the series.
After Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett – who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs after scoring a league-leading 15 goals in the playoffs and had 22 total points – took turns playing hero in the earlier games of the series, Tuesday was 11-year veteran Sam Reinhart’s night.
Reinhart got the scoring started in the first period with a sensational individual effort. The center took the puck away from an Oilers skater and swiftly cut behind defenseman Mattias Ekholm before going top shelf over the shoulder of Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner as Reinhart was falling down.
A long-range wrister from left winger Matthew Tkachuk with less than a minute remaining in the opening period doubled Florida’s lead to 2-0.
The second period was largely uneventful, but in the closing minutes, Reinhart struck again for the Panthers. The 29-year-old deftly used his skate to redirect the pass from Aleksander Barkov past Skinner for his second goal of the game.
But Reinhart was only halfway finished with his big night.
In the third period, with the game seemingly out of reach and in desperate need of a flurry of goals, Edmonton made a strategic decision to pull its goalie with seven minutes remaining in the game.
Reinhart took full advantage of the situation, scoring an empty-netter to complete his hat trick and adding a fourth goal for good measure to bring the Panthers’ lead to 5-0.
The offensive explosion brought Reinhart’s goal tally during the series to a team-high seven. Reinhart is the first player to net seven goals in a Stanley Cup Final since Wayne Gretzky 40 years ago.
Meanwhile, between the Florida pipes, a man affectionately known as “Bob” by his teammates and fans alike was steady while denying any hope of a score by the Oilers. Sergei Bobrovsky, who backstopped the Cup win last season and started every game this postseason, made 28 saves in the win. Edmonton’s lone tally came late in the game with no chance for a comeback as Vasily Podkolzin poked home a rebound with under five minutes remaining in the game.
The three-headed monster of Reinhart (7), Marchand (6) and Bennett (5) became just the second trio of teammates to each score five or more goals in a Stanley Cup Finals series. The 1955 Detroit Red Wings, anchored by the legendary Gordie Howe, are the only other team to achieve that feat seven decades ago.
The Conn Smythe Trophy, which is awarded to the most valuable player in the postseason, went to Bennett, who scored a league-leading 15 goals in the playoffs and had 22 total points.
Marchand, who won the Cup in 2011 with the Bruins and was acquired ahead of March’s trade deadline, was full of joy after being able to lift the NHL’s treasured chalice 14 years later.
“It’s a feeling you can’t really describe and seeing the family and everyone up there (in the stands) and everyone that supported me and helped me get to this point, there’s nothing. … Words can’t put this into reality how great it feels. And with such an incredible group,” the long-time former Bruin said with his voice trembling a bit on the TNT broadcast.
“Everybody wrote us off from the start of the playoffs. They had everybody beating us in every round and we just had that fire and knew we had something special. It’s incredible to be part of this group right now.”
After the game, Reinhart was asked about the remarkable accomplishment of winning back-to-back championships.
“It’s not easy coming back,” Reinhart told TNT. “You know how hard it is to do. Sometimes that benefits you and sometimes that doesn’t.
“We just stuck with it. A lot has to go your way to be standing here at the end, and we were up for the task again.”
Tkachuk noted the accomplishment was even bigger after playing and winning two of the last three finals. “We are a dynasty,” he said.
A second loss in as many years for Edmonton also extends another ignominious streak, as it has been 32 years since a team from Canada has won the championship in its own national winter sport. The Montreal Canadiens were the last franchise from north of the border to hoist the trophy named after Lord Stanley of Preston.
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