If you watched the Stanley Cup Final on Sportsnet, there’s a good chance you heard David Bowie’s Game 7 introduction, symbolizing that either the Panthers or Oilers could be “heroes, just for one day.” Well, the 2023-24 Panthers just became South Florida’s heroes forever.
A series beginning with a seemingly obvious trajectory — Panthers in four — was tilted on its head when the Edmonton Oilers, or more importantly, Connor McDavid, improvised and adapted. From obvious to intriguing, the series was stretched to seven games and the momentum shifted from Panthers to Oilers with the Stanley Cup literally in the building.
There are many perspectives on the series’ outcome, and I’m aware my opinion will elicit some groans as I profess that the Florida Panthers deserved to win. They deserved the Cup because they refused to let their past define them in order to become champions.
The Cup didn’t make it to Florida in 2023. The Panthers suffered a heartbreaking loss, winning only one game of last year’s Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, leaving their dreams shattered and resilience tested.
Returning to the Final a year later, they picked up the fragmented pieces of their childhood dreams and put them back together for three more wins than the previous year. Victory wasn’t guaranteed, but there was an expectation that the Panthers’ experience would give them an edge against the Oilers.
There are several reasons why I was rooting for the Panthers. To start, I saw a team that had never won the Cup in its history and with whom Roberto Luongo is associated — any vague relation to the Canucks propelled my support for the Panthers.
Throughout the series, I cheered against the Oilers, annoyed by the media’s narrative of Edmonton being “Canada’s team.” A win for the Oilers would be a win for Edmonton, but not necessarily for Canada — ask a Calgary Flames fan, the majority of them seem to agree. Besides, the Florida Panthers have 13 Canadians on their roster, not including Head Coach Paul Maurice. So, doesn’t that mean the Panthers’ victory is just as much of a win for Canada as it would have been had Edmonton won?
Despite personal sentiments, credit where credit’s due, the Oilers advanced to the Final and pushed the eventual champions to the brink, losing Game 7 by a single goal. Before the final nail could go in the coffin, the Oilers threw their best counterpunch, proving why they made it to the Final in the first place.
I would be remiss not to go into more detail on Connor McDavid’s playoffs performance. Love him or hate him — McDavid is stellar. There was no chance Edmonton’s captain would be eliminated without making his presence felt, at times dragging the Oilers behind him into the fight. Despite the loss, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP over Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky of the championship team, an incredibly rare feat.
I give credit to the Oilers for turning this from a sweep into a series, creating some real tension, and planting a seed of doubt, but I’m steadfast in my conviction that the Florida Panthers deserved the Stanley Cup.
The Panthers’ path to their second consecutive Final was far from predestined. Florida was victorious over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers in the first three rounds — not an easy feat to achieve, given the regular season point totals and Stanley Cup calibre of each team; yet they did it.
When Florida began the 2024 Final with a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, everyone assumed if it wasn’t Panthers in four, maybe five. Then five turned into six. The dream of winning the Cup was starting to elude the Panthers for the second consecutive year. As the momentum shift began, and Game 7 was inevitable, everyone started to think that the Cup would return to “Canada.” I, on the other hand, took to heart the age-old notion expressed by Sportsnet: it isn’t over until it’s over.
As “Brick-Wall Bobrovsky” began to crumble, the pressure was on Florida to close out the series, rather than on McDavid and company who could have achieved a major comeback victory in the Final — something that has not been achieved since World War II by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Whether it was sheer delusion or relentless optimism; I still had hope for the Panthers.
Reflecting back on the series, I find that the difference didn’t come down to one shot or one goal; the true difference was that the Oilers wanted to win, while the Panthers needed to win.
If, as a Canadian, you’re incensed over Tkachuk’s shoutout to his fans in Calgary, Maurice’s hopes for Winnipeg, and Luongo’s gratitude toward Vancouver — you can watch the Olympics starting on July 26, and cheer for Team Canada then.
