(Reuters) -The Florida Panthers completed their Stanley Cup repeat in style with a 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 on Tuesday as four goals from Sam Reinhart helped them clinch back-to-back championships in front of an ecstatic home crowd in Sunrise.
In a rematch of last year’s Finals, the Panthers became the first team to repeat as champions since the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-2021.
“The Stanley Cup is the most iconic trophy in sports and the most difficult to win,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman at the trophy presentation ceremony. “And while it may be difficult to win once, to do it twice in a row is almost impossible.”
Reinhart put the Panthers ahead five minutes into the game after stealing the puck from Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard before beating goaltender Stuart Skinner.
Another turnover by Bouchard led to Matthew Tkachuk doubling the lead in the final seconds of the first period.
Aleksander Barkov then capitalized on a rebound off Skinner to set up Reinhart, who redirected his second of the night in off his skate with 2:29 left in the second.
Reinhart killed off any hope of an Oilers comeback by scoring two empty-netters late in the third period, while Vasily Podkolzin grabbed a late consolation for Edmonton.
“It’s incredible. It’s a feeling you can’t really describe,” said Brad Marchand, who was traded to the Panthers from the Boston Bruins in March.
“Words can’t put this into reality how great it feels. Such an incredible group. Everybody wrote us off … we just had that fire, we knew we had something special.”
Sam Bennett, who scored 15 goals in the postseason, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP.
The result extended Canada’s Stanley Cup drought to 32 years. The last Canadian team to hoist the trophy was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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