Panthers' Stanley Cup championship film now streaming on ESPN+

The Florida Panthers’ road to the first Stanley Cup championship in their 30-season history was filled with memorable highs and challenging moments.

The “Florida Panthers – 2024 Stanley Cup Champions,” takes viewers through that emotional journey, culminating with a 2-1 victory against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Produced by NHL Original Productions, the film will begin streaming on ESPN+ on Tuesday and premiere on ESPN2 on Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. and Sportsnet on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. It will be available on Amazon Canada on Oct. 7 and will be available to all of the NHL's international partners.

The story begins with the Panthers’ origin as a 1993 expansion team that reached the 1996 Cup Final in its third season before being swept by the Colorado Avalanche. It took until 2023 for Florida to reach the Cup Final again.

Although the Panthers lost that best-of-7 series to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games, the defeat provided valuable lessons and motivation.

“Last year, the loss in the Final I think it was a good experience for us,” Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said. “It was a good learning experience and helped us to realize how hard it is to make that last step.”

Florida faced adversity from the start of the season with defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour missing the first 16 games while each recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. The Panthers were able to overcome that with their improved depth from the offseason additions of defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov and forward Evan Rodrigues.

Florida further strengthened its lineup by adding forwards Vladimir Tarasenko, a Stanley Cup winner with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, and Kyle Okposo before the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline and finished the regular season first in the Atlantic Division (52-24-6), looking primed to make another run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Panthers’ opponent in the Eastern Conference First Round was the Tampa Bay Lightning, their cross-state rivals who defeated them in their previous two playoff series in 2021 and 2022.

“That first series was our time to slay the dragon,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said.

After Florida won 3-2 in Game 1, Bobrovsky put his signature on the series in Game 2 with his spin-around, back-of-his-right arm save on Tampa Bay defenseman Mathew Dumba to keep the scored tied 2-2 in the second period. The Panthers went on to win 3-2 on Carter Verhaeghe’s goal 2:59 into overtime and won the series in five games.

“Throughout the playoffs, you look for moments like that,” forward Sam Reinhart said of Bobrovsky’s save. “And that’s something that’s going to be seen on highlight reels for years to come.”

Up next was a rematch with the Boston Bruins in the second round. The Bruins were heavy favorites entering the playoffs the previous season after setting NHL records for wins (65) and points (135) during the regular season, but the Panthers upset them in seven games.

Boston won 5-1 in Game 1 before Florida responded with victories in the next three games and won the physical series in six. Defenseman Gustav Forsling’s rebound goal with 1:33 left in regulation gave the Panthers a 2-1 victory in Game 6 and sent them on to face the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Rangers, who won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top team in the regular season, presented a formidable task. After Florida won 3-0 in Game 1, New York responded with overtime victories in Game 2 and 3.

The turning point came in Game 4, when Reinhart scored a power-play goal 1:12 into overtime to give the Panthers a 3-2 win that evened the series 2-2.

“That was their chance to go up 3-1 and really put us on the brink of elimination,” Rodrigues said. “They should’ve killed us when they had the chance.”

The Panthers won the next two games with Tarasenko’s goal 9:08 into the third period standing up as the winner in a 2-1 victory in Game 6. The Panthers were the first team to return to the Cup Final the season after losing it in it since the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the 2009 Final after losing to the Red Wings in 2008.

“Not winning last year, obviously, pushed all of our returning guys to be even better,” Tkachuk said. “It’s just a different feeling this year. We’re getting contributions from everybody. We’re very proud to be here. We’re very happy, but the job is not finished.”

Getting past Connor McDavid and Edmonton Oilers in the Cup Final would prove to be Florida’s biggest challenge. The Panthers won the first three games with Bobrovsky posting a 32-save shutout in a 3-0 victory in Game 1, followed by Rodrigues’ two goals in a 4-1 win in Game 2 and Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Tarasenko each scoring during a three-goal second period surge in a 4-3 victory in Game 3.

Florida’s resilience was tested, however, when Edmonton won the next three games by a combined 18-5. The Panthers found a way to regroup and win Game 7 at home.

“Coming into this team from Day One it was, ‘We are going to the Finals again and what do we have to do to get there?’” Rodrigues said. “And that was the mentality day in and day out and every guy bought in, and every guy did everything possible for us to get there and now we’re all champions.”

The players were happiest to see coach Paul Maurice finally win. Since getting his start with the Hartford Whalers in 1995, the 57-year-old had coached 1,985 NHL games -- 1,848 in the regular season and 137 in the playoffs -- which were the most before winning the Cup.

“Watching Paul lift the Cup, for us to do it and for us to do it for him, definitely something special,” Verhaeghe said.