The Florida Panthers.
That’s your answer. On June 24, 2024, the Florida Panthers finally stopped the bleeding and hoisted the most famous trophy in sports. But honestly, just saying "they won" feels like a massive undersell. It was the kind of series that makes people who hate hockey suddenly start screaming at their TVs.
If you weren't glued to the screen, you missed a total rollercoaster. The Panthers didn't just win; they survived a near-historic collapse against the Edmonton Oilers. After taking a 3-0 lead in the series, Florida forgot how to play hockey for about a week. They let Connor McDavid and the Oilers crawl all the way back to force a Game 7.
Most teams would have folded. The pressure was suffocating. But in that final game at Amerant Bank Arena, the Panthers dug in. They took a 2-1 victory and secured the first championship in their 30-year history. It was messy, it was stressful, and it was absolutely perfect for South Florida.
Why the 2024 Stanley Cup Final felt like a fever dream
Usually, when a team goes up 3-0 in the Finals, you start chilling the champagne. Florida looked like an absolute juggernaut. Sergei Bobrovsky was playing like a brick wall that also happened to have world-class reflexes. Then, the Oilers woke up.
Edmonton started scoring. A lot. They won Game 4 by an embarrassing 8-1 score. They won Game 5. They won Game 6. Suddenly, the hockey world was whispering about the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs—the only team to ever come back from 3-0 down in the Finals. The Panthers were staring down the barrel of becoming the biggest punchline in sports history.
The Game 7 Heroics
When the puck dropped for Game 7, you could practically feel the anxiety through the broadcast. Carter Verhaeghe got the Panthers on the board early. Then Mattias Janmark tied it up for Edmonton almost immediately.
The turning point came from Sam Reinhart in the second period. He snapped a shot past Stuart Skinner to make it 2-1. For the rest of the game, the Panthers basically played "prevent defense" on steroids. Aleksander Barkov, the first Finnish captain to ever win the Cup, was everywhere. He shut down McDavid. He blocked lanes. He was a machine.
When the clock hit zero, the relief in Sunrise, Florida, was loud enough to wake up the Everglades.
Connor McDavid and the Trophy Nobody Wants
Here is a weird fact about who won the Stanley Cup 2024: the MVP wasn't on the winning team.
Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy. It’s the award for the most valuable player of the playoffs. Usually, the winner is doing laps with the Cup. But McDavid was so dominant—racking up 42 points in 25 games—that the voters couldn't ignore him, even though his team lost.
- McDavid broke Wayne Gretzky’s record for most assists in a single postseason (34).
- He became only the sixth player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe while on the losing side.
- He didn't even come out to the ice to collect the trophy. He was in the locker room with his teammates. Can't really blame the guy.
The Paul Maurice Factor
You’ve gotta love Paul Maurice. Before 2024, he was the guy with the most coaching wins without a Cup. He’d been at this for decades. Seeing him finally get his moment was one of those "sports are great" moments. His post-game interviews were a mix of pure exhaustion and typical dry humor. He’d lost in the Finals twice before (2002 and 2023), so this was personal.
Breaking the Canadian Curse (Or Not)
Every year, people talk about the "Canadian Curse." No team from Canada has won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. Edmonton was this close to ending the 31-year drought. The entire country was basically wearing Oilers jerseys by Game 7.
But the wait continues. The trophy stayed in the sun, proving that "hockey in the desert" or "hockey in a swamp" is actually working. Florida has now seen a team in the Finals for five straight years if you count the Tampa Bay Lightning’s run.
Key Takeaways from the 2024 Finals
If you’re looking for the "why" behind Florida’s success, it wasn't just luck. They were built for this.
- Physicality matters. Matthew Tkachuk didn't have the insane point totals he had the year before, but he was a menace. He makes life miserable for opponents.
- The "Bob" is real. Sergei Bobrovsky is 35 years old. Most goalies are thinking about retirement at that age. He became the oldest goalie to open a Cup Final with a shutout and was the backbone of Game 7.
- Defense wins championships. It sounds like a cliché, but Florida’s ability to limit McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the final sixty minutes of the season was a masterclass.
What should you do now?
If you want to dive deeper into the stats or relive the chaos, check out the full series highlights on the NHL’s official YouTube channel. The Game 4 blowout and the Game 7 tension are worth a re-watch.
Also, keep an eye on the Florida Panthers' roster changes. They’ve managed to keep their core relatively intact for the 2025-26 season, which is rare in the salary cap era. If you’re a betting person, don't count them out for a repeat. They’ve proven they can handle the pressure of a 3-0 lead—and the even bigger pressure of almost losing it.
For those tracking the legacy of the greats, keep a close watch on Connor McDavid’s career stats. Even without the 2024 Cup, his performance put him in a tier of hockey history that very few people ever touch. He's chasing Gretzky and Lemieux now, and every season he gets closer to that "Greatest of All Time" conversation.