Tkachuk, Barkov and Reinhart play by vital accidents to assist Panthers win Stanley Cup

Jun 18, 2025 10:38 AM IST Tkachuk, Barkov and Reinhart play by vital accidents to assist Panthers win Stanley Cup SUNRISE, Fla. — Some prime Florida Panthers gamers gutted by vital accidents to assist them repeat as Stanley Cup champions, most notably Matthew Tkachuk coping with a sports activities hernia and torn adductor muscle on the identical facet. HT Image “He was a mess,” coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s the medical term: He was a mess.” Maurice mentioned Aleksander Barkov’s level manufacturing within the last was affected by one of many captain’s arms being lower open and that Sam Reinhart returned from a Grade 2 MCL sprain within the Eastern Conference last. “In Game 1, Sasha split the palm of his hand open,” Maurice mentioned. “He had those sutures torn out twice ’til he just glued it together.” Reinhart got here again to attain 4 targets within the clinching Game 6 towards Edmonton. No participant has performed that since Maurice “Rocket Richard” in 1957. Tkachuk scored what turned out to be the Cup-winning purpose, 4 months after getting injured taking part in for the U.S. within the 4 Nations Face-Off. He missed the second half of the common season. “I was really not hopeful at the start that he would survive the first round,” Maurice mentioned. “We just didn’t think he could do it.” Smiling ear to ear on the ice after hoisting the Cup, Tkachuk beamed concerning the medical therapy that made him in a position to play. “I wouldn’t be here without the trainers and the doctors and those people, and that’s what makes this Cup more special for me is how hard it was just to be out there and to get to the point of playing,” Tkachuk mentioned. “I owe — this Cup is because of them for me. I’m so lucky.” Corey Perry turned the primary participant in NHL historical past to lose within the last 5 occasions in six years with 4 totally different groups. Perry was additionally with the Oilers final yr and earlier than that misplaced in 2022 with Tampa Bay, 2021 with Montreal and 2020 with Dallas. Had Edmonton received, Perry would have damaged the report for the longest hole between Cup championships. He received it with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007. Barkov didn’t hand the Stanley Cup to a longtime teammate like Aaron Ekblad or Sergei Bobrovsky. It went to newcomer and third-pairing defenseman Nate Schmidt, who received it for the primary time in his profession. “He just looked at me and he gave me the ‘Cap’ death stare,” Schmidt mentioned. “You don’t turn those eyes away. No, I didn’t know. It was awesome.” Schmidt then handed it to Seth Jones, who gave it to Tomas Nosek to Vitek Vanecek to A.J. Greer and on to all the opposite gamers who hadn’t hoisted the Cup earlier than. Jones, a commerce acquisition from Chicago late within the season, later celebrated on the ice together with his father, retired NBA participant Popeye Jones. “ looked me and he said, ‘Hey, the guys that haven’t done it before, we’re going to take a back seat to you guys,’” Schmidt mentioned. “It means quite a bit.” There are a number of groups that folks level to when the phrase dynasty comes up. Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. The Tom Brady-led New England Patriots. After efficiently defending their title, ought to this Panthers group be added to that listing? “Hell yeah,” Matthew Tkachuk mentioned. “Absolutely.” The dynasty discuss began earlier than the collection even started, when it turned clear that the Florida Panthers would play of their third straight Stanley Cup Final. They’ve performed extra hockey video games than another group within the NHL over the previous three years, which clearly means they’ve performed plenty of profitable. NHL playoffs: /hub/stanley-cup and /hub/nhl This article was generated from an automatic information company feed with out modifications to textual content.