Scenes from Panthers' non-celebration as juggernaut team heads to third straight Stanley Cup Final

New York Times

29-05-2025

RALEIGH, N.C. – In 1996, when the Florida Panthers won their first Eastern Conference championship in only their third year of existence, sticks and gloves launched high into the air from a bunch of grizzled, bearded, ecstatic third-year expansion castoffs.
They gleefully — and rightfully – celebrated after upsetting Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Petr Nedved and the mighty Penguins. They not only touched the Prince of Wales Trophy, they paraded it around the Igloo, posed for pictures on the ice and partied on their charter to Denver for the Stanley Cup Final.
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And then Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy swept them fast and painfully.
Wednesday night was not like 1996. Heck, it wasn't even like 2023.
After rallying for a 5-3 victory to knock off the Carolina Hurricanes and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for a third consecutive season, the Panthers celebrated like this was Game 53 of 82 during the regular season.
They slowly skated to Sergei Bobrovsky to tap his mask. They shared a couple hugs, a few high-fives, then quickly skated to center ice for a nondescript handshake line to show respect for their 10th victim of the past three years. Coach Paul Maurice, who in the first round arranged with Toronto Maple Leafs counterpart Craig Berube to avoid the handshakes because in Maurice's opinion that should be time for the players, did the same with Rod Brind'Amour.
And after they didn't touch — for the second year in a row — the prize awarded for winning the Eastern Conference, there was no loud, triumphant music when the locker room door swung open five minutes later.
In fact, it was eerily quiet. Barely even smiles. Almost like they lost.
But, of course, they hadn't.
For a franchise that not too long ago hadn't even won a playoff round in a quarter-century, winning the Eastern Conference has become old hat for these Panthers.
It's a tradition at this point 🤭 #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/O4yLPTMe15
— NHL (@NHL) May 29, 2025
They have larger aspirations, and that's to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, starting next week when the puck drops against either the Edmonton Oilers (for the second year in a row) or the Dallas Stars.
'I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,' Matthew Tkachuk said.
This time?
'It's all business, and we've got a bigger goal in mind,' Tkachuk said.
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And that should be a terrifying thought for the Oilers, who are up 3-1 in the Western Conference final, or Stars.
The Panthers reminded everybody Wednesday night just what type of juggernaut they are.
Down 2-zip? Looking like, in Maurice's words, they didn't even deserve to make the playoffs? Playing slow? Looking low on energy? Serving up, in Maurice's words, pizzas?
No problem at all. No panic whatsoever. The Panthers, in multiple players' words, were calm between periods.
'We're comfortable in these situations,' Panthers newcomer Brad Marchand said. 'The guys in this room have been here in many different situations and been up and down. And when you've been through it before and you've gone all the way, you see the different way that momentum swings can happen throughout a game and how you can take advantage of that. We knew it would take one shot.'
And that it did.
First Tkachuk scored a power-play goal. Thirty seconds later, he took a hit to make a play and Sam Bennett set up Evan Rodrigues' tying goal — his first of the playoffs — after Maurice made one simple switch: flipping left wingers Rodrigues and Carter Verhaeghe by moving Rodrigues onto the Bennett-Tkachuk line and Verhaeghe onto the Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart line.
THE CATS HAVE CLAWED THEIR WAY BACK 😼
Two goals in 30 seconds makes it a 2-2 game! #StanleyCup
🇺🇸: @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T🇨🇦: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/Zhhb2T9aF9
— NHL (@NHL) May 29, 2025
Four minutes after that, Marchand set up Anton Lundell for the go-ahead goal.
But even after Seth Jarvis tied the score in the third period to erupt Lenovo Center, the road-warrior Panthers once again didn't roll over.
Less than four minutes later, Barkov — whose pinch on the power play in the second led to Tkachuk's goal — powered himself behind the net, fended off Dmitry Orlov as the defenseman draped himself all over him, escaped, cut to the front of the net and served up a beauty pass for Verhaeghe, the NHL's most clutch playoff performer.
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And in his latest ginormous moment, Verhaeghe roofed a perfect shot for his third series-clinching goal.
'I just tried to protect the puck,' Barkov said. 'Had Carter on the back door, by himself, so you want to give the puck to him in these moments.'
THE PANTHERS HAVE THE LEAD ONCE AGAIN 😱
What an insane play from Barkov to set up Verhaeghe! #StanleyCup
🇺🇸: @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T🇨🇦: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/1XuEyL2zX2
— NHL (@NHL) May 29, 2025
Seriously, what a play and pass by Barkov.
'That was nice, huh?' Rodrigues said. 'It speaks to who he is as a person. He's so even-keeled, doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low. And just when games get intense and very emotional, he's able to play his game and just do the right things over and over again, and then his talent just shines. He's just all-world, all skill, all talent, and it just comes out.'
And seriously, what a shot by Verhaeghe … yet again.
The man they call 'Swaggy' has scored 32 career playoff goals – 12 of which have been game-winners – in 86 games.
'He knows where to go on the ice to make himself dangerous every shift, and it just doesn't seem like pressure gets to him at all or the moment in the game,' Marchand said. 'And he's an incredible shooter. He's a shot-first guy. And when you have that mentality, you put more pucks to the net, the more opportunity you're gonna get. And he just buries his head and shoots it as hard as he can every time he's in that slot.'
And yet when the final buzzer sounded to send Florida to its latest championship round, nobody – not even the new guys – jumped for joy.
Nothing. It was just like a win in February.
'It's not our first rodeo with this,' Tkachuk said.
We know what we came for. pic.twitter.com/16ZbRPID1V
— x – Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 29, 2025
'We haven't accomplished anything yet,' Marchand added. 'You could just see the guys have been here before, and we're excited that we got through the round, but that's where it stops. The toughest team that we're going to face is coming up next. And if you don't do the job there, you didn't win anything.
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'So, yeah, we're excited, but it's just like any other round. There's a huge job to do moving forward, and we have to prepare for that now.'
In 2023, the Panthers went to Stanley Cup Final and lost.
In 2024, the Panthers went to the Stanley Cup Final and won.
They liked that a lot better.
'There's one team that's happy at the end of this thing,' Sam Reinhart said. 'We're well aware of that. We've gone through both sides of it. You've got to enjoy this. You've got to enjoy every game, every win, every series win, but we know there's a tremendous amount of work left out there.'
(Photo of the Florida Panthers celebrating victory:)