Florida Panthers react as Stanley Cup reign ends with playoff elimination
They knew it was coming, but the Florida Panthers experienced the official end of their two-year reign as the NHL’s Stanley Cup champions on Saturday, April 4. A 9-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins sealed the Panthers’ fate. Florida is in last place in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division with six games remaining.
The Panthers, who defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the past two Stanley Cup Finals, will miss the postseason for the first time since 2018-19. MORE: Tampa Bay Lightning salute unlikely star’s franchise record “Obviously, no one’s happy about the situation,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said, per ESPN . “But it’s about really just sticking together as a team and going through this as a team.
We’re all sticking together. It’s not fun sometimes. But we’re just trying to make the best of it.
” On Sunday, NHL. com senior writer Amalie Benjamin recapped the Panthers’ season and looked into the future. Injuries Florida lost center and captain Aleksander Barkov to a knee injury in training camp that cost him the entire season.
Then, forward Matthew Tkachuk missed the first 47 games after surgery to repair a sports hernia. Defenseman Seth Jones played just 50 games, and prominent players Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell missed time as well. “It’s a factor,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said.