Canada will have to wait at least another year before a club north of the border can hoist the Stanley Cup.
Sam Reinhart’s late second-period goal lifted the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL Finals on Monday, helping the home team win its first title and denying the Canadian hockey fans the long-time prized trophy. awaiting the return to the north.
Reinhart’s goal it came moments after Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov deflected a puck that was behind goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and sliding precariously into the box.
That release of desperation launched a Panthers run, culminating in Reinhart’s low wrister in the circle that beat Oilers goaltender and Edmonton native Stuart Skinner.
Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, son of American hockey great Keith Tkachukrecalled leaving his home Monday afternoon with his father and brother Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators, wishing him good luck.
“All I wanted was to win, not just for everyone here, but I really wanted to win especially for those two,” an emotional Matthew Tkachuk told ABC/ESPN.
Edmonton was trying to become the fifth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit when it took the ice at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
Just a week and a half ago, the Panthers looked invincible, following their 4-3 victory in Edmonton in Game 3, giving them a 3–0 series lead.
The mighty Oilers, who scored the fourth-most goals in hockey last regular season, only put four pucks on Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in those first three games.
But these first three contests were nothing like Games 4, 5 and 6, when Edmonton steamrolled Florida, scoring 18 points to force Monday night’s deciding game.
Four teams have come back from a 3-0 hole to win the most best-of-7 playoff series in NHL history: Toronto maple leaves (1942), New York Islanders (1975), Philadelphia flyers (2010) and Kings of Los Angeles (2014). The Leafs’ feat came that year’s Stanley Cup Finals
But as the Panthers showed on Monday, any momentum gained from victories in Games 4-6 usually ends when the puck drops in Game 7. While four teams recovered from a 3-0 deficit, five others 0-3 squads forced a game 7 only to lose the winner-take-all contest.
Edmonton is now the sixth team to make such a valiant effort that it fell short.
The Detroit Red Wings (2011, 1945), Chicago Blackhawks (2011), the Islanders (1975) and New York Rangers (1939) fought gallantly before losing Game 7. The 1975 Islanders pulled off a 3-0 quarterfinal miracle in the series finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins and almost achieved the same feat in the semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers before falling in game 7.
The Panthers’ victory also kept alive a three-decade streak of Canadian teams failing to win the Stanley Cup, a feat last accomplished in 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens won it all.
A Canadian team has reached the Stanley Cup Final seven times since the 1993 Habs, only to fall short to a U.S.-based club.
Before lifting the cup on Monday, Florida came close to lifting Lord Stanley’s famous chalice last year, when the Vegas Golden Knights won it all, and in 1996, when the Panthers fell to the Colorado Avalanche.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
