Last year was a dream, this year was an achievement. Those were the words HC Paul Maurice said about the Panthers winning their second straight Stanley Cup. Last season, I recapped the several-year journey it took Bill Zito & his front office to build a Cup-winning team in addition to the Cats’ season-long journey. And while I don’t feel it’s necessary to rehash this time around, Florida still had a long journey to earn their second straight Stanley Cup, filled with brutal travel, injuries, shocking trade deadline acquisitions, suspensions, and high-level hockey. Make no mistake, the Panthers weren’t just handed another Cup; they earned every single day of the season when the wins were there and when they weren’t.
Related Post: The Florida Panthers Journey To The Stanley Cup
New Season, New Team:
There were some rather notable departures from last season’s team in Brandon Montour, OEL, and Stenlund. Florida also lost Lomberg, Lorentz, Tarasenko, and Stolarz to free agency. Coming into the new year there were a lot of questions surrounding what Florida’s blue line would look like & how the team would fill the gaps. Newcomers came in the form of Samoskevich, Knight, Schmidt, Balinskis, Jesper Boqvist, Nosek, & Greer. Hurricane weather put a damper on the Panthers’ ring ceremony, which was originally meant to be open to fans who’d bought tickets. The top of the ring was an exact replica of the Florida logo. One side had the player’s name with the state of Florida on it, a red ruby to signify where the team plays, and their player number. The other side had Florida written at the top with the Stanley Cup, 2024, and palm trees. The inside of the ring was my personal favorite as it featured a rat, the championship belt, the four teams they defeated with the series results, and on the bottom side, just one word: Freedom. The final word that HC Paul Maurice said to his players at the Championship Parade.
The Cats got out to a decent start in October with a dominant 6-4 win over the Bruins; it was 6-2 for most of the match before two late goals pulled Boston closer. It was a night of celebration as the Cup was in the building, and they raised their first-ever championship banner into the rafters. They lost their next two games to Ottawa and Buffalo before beating the Bruins for a second time, this match in Boston. An emotional night in Columbus as the Blue Jackets honored Johnny Gaudreau in their first home game; Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett were teammates of Gaudreau, although Tkachuk had to miss the match as he was out due to illness. The Cats took the 4-3 win and went on to win 4 of their final 6 games of the month; losses went to the Canucks and the Wild.
Travel Weary:
The New York trip at the end of October marked the start of what was a brutal travel schedule for the Panthers this season. Once all three games in New York were played, the team traveled to Finland to take part in the NHL’s Global Series, with their opponent being Dallas. The Florida Finns were excited to share their home country with their teammates and included stops in Helsinki before moving to Tampere for the games. Many of the Finns had friends or family who got to see them play NHL games in person for the first time ever. Barkov received a massive ovation from the home crowd when he was introduced, and HC Paul Maurice put all the Finns on the ice to start both games. Florida won both matches with 6-4 & 4-2 scores, respectively. The Global series was already the Cats’ second set of back-to-back games; Boston/Columbus was the first set in October. They’d have 13 total back-to-backs, with the majority coming after the Christmas break and some including travel for home & home games. Following the Global series, they had a five-game home stretch where they won 3 of 5 and made Hellebuyck look human for the first time all season; both losses were to New Jersey. Winnipeg returned the favor a couple of nights later with a 3-6 victory, and Florida did its traditional losing to Chicago in Chicago. Losses to Colorado and Washington capped off the losing streak. Florida won 6 of their next seven games, the only loss going to the Penguins in OT.
The Western Canada trip was a mixed bag with the Panthers getting wins over Seattle in OT and a wild 6-5 win over the Oilers in Edmonton but losses to the Canucks and Calgary with both games being shutouts. Just before Christmas, the Panthers had a back-to-back against the Lightning and split that series, winning in Tampa and getting shut out on home ice. In true Florida fashion, they got shut out again against Montreal and ended December with a 5-3 win over the Rangers. December specifically had fans worried online, as they were shut out four times in one month. However, when I reviewed the game results from the 2023-2024 season, it was the same number of shutouts the team had experienced up to that point in the season; it just felt like a lot because they all came in the same month. January as a whole was a mixed bag with Florida going 7-7, although some losses were in OT, so they still got points. It was frustrating to watch as a fan because for a good number of those games, the Panthers looked like the better team, and probably their biggest flaw was exposed: an inability to hold onto leads in the third period. For a team that was so good at shutting down opponents in the final frame last year, it was a slight shock to see this become an issue for the team.
Late January to the Four Nations Break showed the real potential of the team, though, as Florida’s top line of Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart decimated opponents and completely took over games. The Samosekvich-Bennett-Tkachuk line looked equally as dangerous, and the defense was starting to click. The Cats won 4 of 5 going into the Four Nations break.
Four Nations & Injury Implications:
Florida had more players than any other team to go to the Four Nations Faceoff, with at least one player from all the participating countries: Finland, Sweden, USA, and Canada. It was an exciting event and brought a bright light onto the sport of hockey with the USA/Canada first game going viral from the early game fights that the Tkachuk brothers & JT Miller instigated. Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett helped boost Canada to the Championship Win, with Bennett playing a pivotal role by scoring the game-tying goal. However, it nearly ended Matthew Tkachuk’s season as he revealed during an interview after Florida had won the Cup that he’d torn his adductor from the bone and suffered a hernia. He was a medical mess, to quote Paul Maurice in his exit interview. The Panthers would have to play without one of their best players for the rest of the regular season. Coming out of a 1-2 loss to Seattle following Four Nations, the Cats won the next six games before an OT loss to Boston snapped the streak. But nestled into that timeframe was the trade deadline. A trade deadline that would shock the hockey world.
Deadline Acquisitions:
The Panthers had a solid team in place and were playing great, even if they didn’t always get the results they deserved. Ahead of the deadline, Bill Zito made the team’s first big trade: backup goalie Spencer Knight for Seth Jones with draft picks attached on both sides and Chicago retaining 25%, bringing Jones’ cap hit down to $7M. Jones comes into the team with a lower cap hit and term on his contract, filling the hole that Brandon Montour had left. Florida fans mourned the loss of Knight, and Blackhawks fans seemed to celebrate Jones leaving. Overall, it’s a good trade for both sides, Chicago gets its starting goalie & the Panthers get a much-needed top-4 RHD. Florida then brought in Nico Sturm & Vitek Vanecek from San Jose to add depth & get a backup goalie. Deadline day was looking to be pretty quiet for Florida as they made the depth moves they needed, that is, until the final hour before the deadline hit. All of a sudden, news broke that Boston was trading lifelong Bruin & team captain, Brad Marchand, to the Florida Panthers. The news sent a majority of Panther fans into a slight panic over who would be traded back the other way, but it turns out no one was leaving. Florida was getting Marchand for a conditional 2nd-round pick that turned into a 1st-round pick since the Cats met all the conditions.
Injury Season & Suspension:
Marchand was coming to the Panthers in the middle of healing from an injury he’d suffered in a match against the Penguins. He wasn’t the only player who’d suffered injury on the Florida roster. Barkov was injured early in the year when he went hard into the endboards during the second game of the season & didn’t return to the lineup until the games in Finland. Tkachuk, as I said, got injured at Four Nations, Barkov was injured again late in the year, Sturm was injured late, and Ekblad was battling an injury from early January that eventually led to his 20-game suspension due to a failed drug test. Plenty of people have made the assumption that he was doing steroids, and at no point has anyone involved in the situation said that that’s what he got flagged for. All I have is his statement in which he admitted to taking something not cleared by the team doctors to help with injury recovery. I think it’s unfair to jump to the conclusion that he was doing steroids when something as simple as cold medicine can flag drug tests as a false positive. With less than 20 games left of the regular season, Ekblad missed the first two playoff games as well & then served another 2-game suspension for his hit on Hagel during the Tampa Bay series. Once the division title was out of reach & a playoff spot was clinched, Florida’s staff prioritized health above all else, & the team was sitting as many as 8 starting players a game due to injury or rest. Even players like Forsling & Reinhart were given rest days, something they’d not done in previous years. Marchand played 10 regular-season games with the Panthers after coming back from injury and was slotted in on the third line with Luostarinen & Lundell, the same spot that Tarasenko played a year ago. The Cats finished 3rd in the Atlantic with a record of 47-31-4 for 98 points & had a first-round rematch against Tampa Bay.
Playoff Prowess:
A lackluster end to the season had some fans worried about how the team would perform in the playoffs, in an echoing sentiment from last year. However, there was more discussion around the team’s health this time because there’d been so many injuries during the year. Matthew Tkachuk had started skating late in the year but didn’t start practicing with the team until after the regular season had concluded. HC Paul Maurice essentially said he was day to day when asked about it by setting marks of when he’d be evaluated by staff & then moving the benchmark. The question was finally answered when the lines were submitted for Game 1 against the Lightning, Tkachuk would be playing. Not only did he play, he had a huge first game back in his limited minutes, scoring 2 PPGs and 1A for a 3-point night. The Cats made a huge statement in Game 1, winning 6-2 with Bennett, Reinhart, & Schmidt (x2) scoring the other goals. That game set the tone for what the Panthers were going to do for the rest of the playoffs: scoring lots of goals, frustrating opponents, suffocating defense, and excellent special teams.
Game 2 was much tighter, but Florida walked away with the 2-0 shutout win. However, Game 2 was marred by a hit from Hagel that sent Barkov dangerously into the boards and out for the rest of the game, while the final minutes descended into barely controlled chaos with fights breaking out. Hagel earned himself a 1-game suspension for the hit. Tampa punched back in Game 3 to set the other trend for Florida in the postseason, giving up games at home. The Lightning got the 1-5 win to cut the series deficit to 1. That’d be as close as they got; the Cats fought back for the 4-2 win in Game 4. Ekblad, in retaliation for the Barkov hit, leveled Hagel in a dangerous hit of his own. One that the refs questionably didn’t call and absolutely should have. Aaron paid the price for it anyway in the form of a 2-game suspension, causing him to miss the final game of the series & the first game against Toronto. Game 5 in Tampa Bay was close until it absolutely wasn’t. A back-and-forth of goals in the first two periods, Florida’s third line of Luostarinen-Lundell-Marchand exploded in points, combining for 2G & 7A to lift the Cats to a 6-3 win and sent the Lightning packing for the second straight year.
We Want Florida. The chant heard ‘round the hockey sphere, Toronto Maple Leafs fans broke out in the infamous chant ahead of Game 4 against the Ottawa Senators. The Sens pushed things to a Game 6 before the Leafs finally put them away and locked in a 2023 rematch. Frustratingly, Florida almost never plays well following a long break, and that was fully on display in Game 1 against the Leafs, where they gave up 3 goals in the first period. They’d battle back into the game and make it interesting, but ultimately, the opening 20 minutes caused them to lose 4-5. Game 2 was better with Barkov breaking the ice, but a late PPG by Pacioretty tied it to end the first period. Brad Marchand got his first goal of the postseason to give the lead back to Florida, but the Leafs scored two unanswered goals by Nylander & Domi. Lundell tied it back up, and a response goal from Marner allowed the Leafs to take a 0-2 series lead out of Toronto. It was a frustrating set of games where the Panthers were clearly not playing their best. Controversy also followed this game as a hit from Bennett resulted in Stolarz leaving the game & the series with a concussion and Woll came in in relief. Based on what could be seen on the TV broadcast, it didn’t look like the hit was that egregious; however, it’s tough to tell how hard hits actually are just from TV. Game 3 felt like more of the same as they gave up two goals early in the first period before Barkov got one back. Tavares restored the 2-goal lead, and then finally, Florida found its footing. Three unanswered by Reinhart, Verhaeghe, and Gadjovich gave the Cats the lead. Weird bounces were the name of the game as Rielly scored off one to send the game to OT. The Leaf Killer himself, Brad Marchand, returned the favor, scoring the game-winner on a weird bounce goal to give the Panthers the win and life in the series. From Game 3 on, it was all Florida. They tied the series with a 2-0 shutout & then a 6-1 blowout win in Toronto in Game 5. The Leafs got their own 0-2 shutout win to force Game 7, where the Cats put on a repeat performance with another 6-1 win to go to their third straight ECF.
Another 2023 rematch brought back together the Panthers & the Hurricanes. This series wasn’t close with the Cats taking a commanding 3-0 series lead, winning 5-2, 5-0, and 6-2 in the first three games. The Canes finally broke their ECF losing streak with a 0-3 shutout win in Sunrise before the Panthers ended things in Raleigh with a 5-3 win. Personally, I’m surprised this series wasn’t closer, as the teams play a similar style of game, but Florida outclassed them in every aspect of the game. The series did give rise to the Dairy Queen superstition, though, which was great fun for the rest of the playoffs. It was short, quick, and clear who was the better team from the get-go.
One final rematch against the Oilers for ultimate glory & immortality. There was no need for redemption this year for the Cats, only chasing the repeat and to conclude a dominant playoff run marked by NHL records aplenty. Edmonton scored first in Game 1 in a match that was eerily similar to the first game against Toronto. The Cats got a 3-1 lead off goals from Bennett (x2) & Marchand. The Oilers tied the game with goals from Arvidsson & Ekholm before Draisaitl ended things in OT. A 5-goal first period of Game 2 had the Oilers going into first intermission with a 2-3 lead and goals from Kane, Bouchard, & Draisaitl while Florida had goals from Bennett & Jones. The second period was all Panthers with Kulikov & Marchand getting the 4-3 lead. A record late Cup Final goal with less than 17 seconds to go from Perry tied the game, and things went to OT for a second straight match. Each team had great chances to end it in the first OT, but it was Marchand who ended things in 2OT to even the series. Florida dominated Game 3, putting up another 6-1 win as the Oilers unraveled in real time in the final period. The fourth most PIMs ever in a Cup Final game with a combined 140 PIMs. Eight players were thrown out, Jonah Gadjovich was a hilarious highlight reel all night between the fights, chirps, and expressions, and Edmonton started fights that the Panthers finished. Game 4 was all momentum swings and an OT goal that bounced off Mikkola to win it for Edmonton. The Cats took a 3-0 lead with goals from Tkachuk (x2) and Lundell before the Oilers answered back in the 2nd period with goals from RNH, Nurse, and Podkolzin. Walman gave Edmonton the lead, and Reinhart returned the Game 2 favor by scoring the 2nd latest game-tying goal in a Cup Final. Draisaitl got credited with the OT winner after the puck bounced off Mikkola. Florida refused to be denied and did what they’d been doing to teams all playoffs long, blowout wins in enemy territory. The Cats went into Edmonton with a vengeance, getting goals from Marchand (x2), Bennett, Reinhart, and Luostarinen for a 5-2 win to take control of the series; the Oilers’ goals came from McDavid & Perry in the 3rd period. A big question of whether Florida had learned its lesson from last year when it came to closing out a Cup Final loomed over Game 6. The Panthers swiftly put that question to bed as, for the sixth straight game, the Oilers gave up at least 2 goals in the first period, this time to Reinhart & Tkachuk. Reinhart put the team on his back and took over the rest of the way, completing the hat trick and then getting one more for good measure to lift the Cats to a 5-1 win and their second straight Stanley Cup.
Barkov & the team decided to honor the new players by giving the Cup to first-time Cup Winners first before handing it off to those who’d won it before. Sasha also opted to bring the Cup to his teammates before taking his celebratory lap. Bennett, with a 15-goal performance to lead the playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe. Marchand finally won his second Cup, and Paul Maurice, after not winning a championship for 30 years, became the first coach to win back-to-back titles after going such a stretch of not winning. It was a long and grueling year filled with injuries, stretches of inconsistency, unexpected additions at the trade deadline, dominant stretches during the regular season, and a playoff performance for the ages. A team filled with depth to the envy of others, as the Panthers had six players with 20+ points & 11 players with 10+ points. Regardless of who Bill Zito is able to re-sign, this team was extremely special this year and, like Paul Maurice said at the start of the playoffs, even better than last year’s team. The Cats now have the chance to do what few teams have ever done and go for a three-peat to solidify their status as a modern-day dynasty.
ITR 44: We Have A Champion…Again – Inside The Rink
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