Champions again: Inevitable Panthers make dynasty case

With 6:49 left in the third period Tuesday, Connor McDavid accepted the puck on the half boards. The Oilers superstar, desperate to generate something, was immediately swarmed by the stick and body positioning of Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling, who forced a McDavid dump-in.

Forsling's partner, Aaron Ekblad, won a battle in the corner and sent the puck back up the strong-side wall. Winger Carter Verhaeghe made a breakout pass, and a few seconds later, center Aleksander Barkov found Sam Reinhart across the neutral zone. The Florida Man of the night deposited the puck into an open Edmonton net to make it 4-0 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Amerant Bank Arena erupted. Hats and plastic rats rained down for Reinhart's third tally. McDavid slumped on the Oilers' bench. The Panthers knew then that the final six-plus minutes were a formality. The 2025 Cup was theirs - a second consecutive championship, fully and completely earned.

"Just as good as the first one," Reinhart, who finished with four goals on four shots in the 5-1 clincher, said as his teammates hoisted the Cup around him.

Like that surgically executed empty-net goal, the Panthers put on a master class in team-first hockey throughout their 23-game playoff run. In defeating Tampa Bay in five games, Toronto in seven, Carolina in five, and Edmonton in six, they became only the 10th team to repeat as champions.

It was the club's third straight Cup Final appearance, putting it in dynasty territory. It's notable that both Cups came against a generational player, and that Florida demoralized teams, going 23-2 when leading after one period and 33-1 when leading after two in the playoffs since 2023. Florida also dominated on the road on this third run, winning 10 of 13 games. In the final specifically, the Panthers held the lead for a record 255:49 to the Oilers' 33:51.

The 2024-25 Panthers were, in a word, inevitable.

"This is way harder than I thought it would be. To win twice, we put so much work into this. I'm so proud of this group," Sam Bennett said. The second-line center with ordinary regular-season numbers bagged 15 goals - including a record 13 on the road - in 23 brilliant games. Florida's No. 1 hitter collected 11 of 18 first-place votes to claim the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The Panthers dressed 22 skaters in the playoffs, none of them weak links - 19 scored at least once while six reached 20 points. The line-by-line results are outrageous. Barkov, the top-line center, was on the ice for 19 goals for and 15 against at five-on-five despite facing the stiffest possible competition. Bennett finished at 17-11, Anton Lundell 24-8, and Tomas Nosek 5-1.

Lundell, Brad Marchand, and Eetu Luostarinen were magical together. The trio will go down as arguably the most effective third line of the salary-cap era.

The enviable depth provided cover. Someone like Verhaeghe could go quiet for a stretch and it didn't put a dent into the operation. The clutch shooter would then snap out of it to pot the winning goal in a game in which one of the Panthers' other top nine forwards were having an off night.

The depth also showed on defense (2.43 goals against per game, 86.4% penalty kill rate). The lineup featured the Selke Trophy winner in Barkov; a Selke finalist in Reinhart; other ultra-responsible forwards like Matthew Tkachuk, Marchand, Lundell, and Luostarinen; a large, rangy, and mobile defense corps; and a Hall of Fame-bound goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky.

Not a single soul cares about Barkov's eight-game goal drought after he and Forsling limited McDavid to two points in the final four games.

"Their forecheck was great and they tilted the rink," McDavid told reporters. "They were able to stay on top of us all over the place. We were never really able to generate any momentum up the ice. We kept trying the same thing over and over again, just banging our heads against the wall.

"Credit to them. They played well."

Rival fan bases can pout all they want about the weather and tax advantages enjoyed by Florida-based teams. Those advantages are real (if not overblown) yet also completely irrelevant if the organization's poorly run. The Panthers wandered in the wilderness for two decades.

The current juggernaut roster is the product of pro scouting excellence. Only four of the 23 players who saw playoff action were drafted by the Panthers (Barkov, Ekblad, Lundell, and Mackie Samoskevich). The rest were signed through free agency (11), acquired via trade (seven), or picked up on waivers (Forsling).

General manager Bill Zito, a finalist or winner of the NHL's executive of the year award four of his five seasons in Florida, has taken a ton of risks - he won't make a first-round pick between 2022 and 2027 due to aggressive trades. But those picks matter little considering the 2025-27 firsts turned into irreplaceable contributors Tkachuk, Seth Jones, and Marchand.

"That guy is the biggest dawg I think I've ever played with. He's incredible," Bennett said of Marchand, who was acquired with Jones in separate trades ahead of March's deadline.

"The best leader. He leads by example, he speaks up. He's fearless out there," Bennett added about 37-year-old Marchand, who looked fantastic in a third-line role, posting 20 points. "I have been telling him this whole playoffs, 'We're following you.' And we followed him this whole playoff run."

Zito turned over more than a third of last year's lineup. And he made that many changes and felt confident there wouldn't be too many issues - if any - because of head coach Paul Maurice. While Maurice's system isn't easy for players to adjust to, it can be liberating once a player settles in. Panthers hockey is smothering hockey, and it requires full buy-in from everyone.

"Can't give the coaching staff enough credit. They did a lot of video with me when I got here. Completely different system than what I'm used to," Jones, a champion at 30, said. "But they said at the end of the day, everyone here has to trust their instincts. Be aggressive in what you do. And that's what we did. Each guy trusts each other and they trust the system."

Jones added, "Bill Zito believed in me and gave me a chance. This is (the) best day of my life."

The Panthers paced themselves, looking unmotivated at times in the regular season. They finished third in the Atlantic Division, then beat a higher-seeded team every round. They showed resilience in games and series, most notably beating Toronto after falling behind 2-0 in the series and 2-0 midway through the first period of Game 3, and bouncing back following a Game 1 overtime loss to Edmonton.

From a purely vibes and culture perspective, the Panthers check off several dynastic boxes. The leadership group - from the loquacious Maurice to heart-and-soul assistant captain Tkachuk to introverted captain Barkov - is diverse and focused on the right things. High standards. Consistency. Respect from everybody and to everybody on the roster, from the stars to the role players.

The Cup handoff order spoke volumes. Barkov lifted the Cup first, as is tradition. It then went to first-time winners like Nate Schmidt, Jones, Nosek, Vitek Vanecek, and A.J. Greer. Bennett, the playoff MVP, was the 17th guy to raise it. No big deal. "We really love each other as a group," Bennett said.

The Panthers' trajectory changed once Maurice and Tkachuk arrived in the summer of 2022. Neither move was a guaranteed home run at the time but both ultimately led to a legendary celebration at the famous Elbo Room beach bar in Fort Lauderdale last June. How about now, a year later?

"We've gotta be a dynasty now," said Tkachuk, who fought through significant injuries during the run. "Three finals in a row, two championships. This team is so special. 'Stanley Cup champion.' This never gets old."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).