SUNRISE, Fla. — The Prince of Wales Trophy was brought to the ice as time expired, as an arena full of Florida Panthers fans roared with joy and dozens of players and staff rushed to pose with the award.
Last year, the Panthers touched the trophy.
This year they didn’t. The message was clear. The Stanley Cup is the only one they want.
For the second year in a row, they have a chance to win hockey’s biggest award. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots, Sam Bennett and Vladimir Tarasenko scored, and the Florida Panthers are once again headed to the Stanley Cup Final after beating the New York Rangers 2-1 on Saturday night.
“We touched on it last year and it didn’t work out for us,” Bennett said of ignoring the trophy, which is awarded to the Eastern Conference champions. “So we thought we’d try something different this year.”
The Panthers, who lost the Cup final to Las Vegas last year, won the East title series in six games. Florida will face either Edmonton or Dallas for the Cup, with the series beginning June 8.
“He’s tough to play, but we like to think he’s tougher to play against. It takes a lot of buy-in, a lot of hard work,” Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk said of his team’s style during their game on the ice. , post-KeynoteUSA interview. “We have worked very hard since training camp and practices. We are very happy to be back, it is special for us to be back in this position after such a tough loss last year.
“I remember hanging around the locker room after the Game 5 loss (to the Golden Knights), telling everyone we’re going to be back. Well, we’re back right now. We’re really excited.”
Artemi Panarin scored with 1:40 left and Igor Shesterkin stopped 32 shots for the Rangers, who held a 2-1 series lead and then lost three in a row, costing them their season. It was New York’s longest losing streak since mid-January and means that, for the 11th year in a row, the team that finishes with the NHL’s best regular-season record will not win the Stanley Cup.
“Listen, our guys fought this year,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were committed from the beginning. It’s disappointing; when you start something like this you don’t do it to get three playoff wins or five playoff wins. You do it to go all the way.”
If Edmonton, which leads the West final 3-2, advances, Game 1 of the title round will be on Florida ice. If Dallas wins the West, the Stars will have home field advantage for the title series. The Oilers can clinch that series on Sunday night.
Florida will play in the Stanley Cup for the third time. The Panthers were swept by Colorado in 1996 and lost 4-1 to Las Vegas last season. It’s also the third time to the finals for Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who lost to Carolina in 2002 and then to Florida last year.
Maybe the third time is the charm for both of us.
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“My enjoyment of the game – and this is new for me – comes from understanding that I’m really not that important here,” said Maurice, who, at 57, aspires to be the second-oldest coach in history. win his first Stanley Cup; Bruce Cassidy was 58 years old when Las Vegas gave him his first title last year. “And I mean it. There’s a great phrase: ‘Don’t be so humble, you’re not that good.’ They’re the players. And when they’re gone, they don’t need me.”
Florida’s victory meant that it is now five consecutive seasons in which a team from the Sunshine State has won the Eastern Conference; Tampa Bay won the Prince of Wales Trophy in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and now Florida has won it back-to-back. The Panthers are also now the 15th active NHL franchise to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in consecutive seasons.
The Panthers also defeated the regular season’s best team, the winner of the Presidents’ Trophy, for the second year in a row. Last season, Florida upset Boston in Round 1, winning Game 7 on the road. This time, it was the Rangers who fell to Florida, which became the first franchise to eliminate the No. 1 overall seed in consecutive years since Pittsburgh did so to Washington in 2016 and 2017.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. “I thought we tried to throw everything we had. It just wasn’t enough today.”
And for Bobrovsky, beating the No. 1 is clearly his thing.
He was in net to beat the top overall seed for the third time in six years: the Rangers this year, the Bruins last year and Tampa Bay when he was in Columbus in 2019.
“We were there,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “We just came up short.”
Bennett opened the scoring in the final minute of the first period, sending the puck to Evan Rodrigues, recovering it and shooting over Shesterkin’s glove and into the top right corner of the net. It was the third straight game with a goal for Bennett, matching his longest streak of the season and marking the first time he had such a streak in a postseason.
Bennett got a takeaway near the blue line with about five minutes left in the second period, which created a huge opportunity, one that saw Matthew Tkachuk skate into the slot with only Shesterkin in front of him. Shesterkin made the save on the toe, although Tkachuk didn’t get much of a shot as Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller spun behind him and hit him in the wrist with his stick just before he shot up. .
Tarasenko was alone on the side netting midway through the third for an easy goal, making it 2-0 and the countdown was on.
The Rangers did not remain calm. Shesterkin went to the bench with 2:24 left and Panarin scored 44 seconds later, cutting Florida’s lead in half. But Florida finished off the rest of the clock and with that the celebration began.
The KeynoteUSA contributed to this report.
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