Florida is the first Stanley Cup finalist to knock off Chytil’s Rangers

The Florida Panthers will once again play in the Stanley Cup Final series. Their 2-1 home win over the New York Rangers in Saturday’s game at Amerant Bank Arena decided the series. The Panthers won the entire Eastern Conference Final series 4:2, although the Presidents’ Trophy winner led the series 2:1 after three games despite the opening defeat. Only the first battle ended with more than a one-goal difference.

The Florida players, who remained just below the top last year after a 1:4 defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights, are still waiting for their opponent. It will be the better of the Western Conference Finals, in which the Edmonton Oilers lead the Dallas Stars 3-2 on the road.

“Last year was the first time we came this far. And it was an amazing feeling. You want to do everything you can then to get back to the finals again. We know that it’s not about one day, it’s about all of them from the beginning of the preparation. We all had the same goal. And now we are back here,” Aleksander Barkov, the captain of the winners, assessed after the game.

Incidentally, the Panthers are rejoicing for the second time in a row in winning the Prince of Wales Trophy for the best team in the East. They are the sixth different club to reach the Stanley Cup Final two years in a row in the last 30 years.

They have thus emulated the Tampa Bay Lightning (three times between 2020 and 2022), Pittsburgh Penguins (2016 and 2017; 2008 and 2009), Detroit Red Wings (2008 and 2009; 1997 and 1998), New Jersey Devils (2000 and 2001) and Dallas Stars (1999 and 2000).

At the same time, the Panthers are only the third team in NHL history, after the Penguins (2016 and 2017) and Red Wings (1997 and 1998), to knock off the Presidents’ Trophy winners two years in a row.

Last year, the Boston Bruins remained atop them. Tarasenko, the author of the winning goal, is the sixth player in league history to send his team to the finals with a decisive goal on two different clubs.

When he did it in 2019, the St. Louis Blues went on to win their first Stanley Cup in their existence. Will history repeat itself? “Our work is not done yet.

We’ve had an excellent three rounds, but we still have one more to go. Themost important one,” said Vladimir Tarasenko after the game. Filip Chytil played 11 minutes in the game, and was on the ice for both goals.

Source: NHL