Top 10 moments from 2024 Stanley Cup Final

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers finished the job Monday, a 16-day journey in the Stanley Cup Final filled with highs and lows ending with a 2-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 at Amerant Bank Arena.

From a 3-0 series lead to a Game 7, the series had it all, things unseen in NHL history or not seen since World War II.

Here are 10 moments from the Stanley Cup Final that stand out above the many others:

McDaniel gets Cup Final started, Luongo does it in Game 7

Mike McDaniel, the head coach of the NFL's Miami Dolphins, hit the drum before puck drop in Game 1 to fire up the home crowd at Amerant Bank Arena.

McDaniel, a staunch Panthers supporter who has been following their playoff runs for two years, wore a Panthers jersey with his last name and the No. 11 on the back. At one point, he put his left hand up to his left air to signal that the crowd had to get louder.

It did. He then raised his right arm up, waited a few seconds, banged the drum again, the crowd even more revved up now. McDaniel raised his hand again, dropped the drum stick as if he was dropping the mic, and moments later the Cup Final was underway.

Former Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning banged the drum before Game 2, and golf legend Jack Nicklaus did it before Game 5.

Then Roberto Luongo did it in front of a raucous Game 7 crowd, and he hit it hard.

"I've had a lot of anger and emotions over the last week," said Luongo, a special adviser to the general manager for the Panthers. "I needed to let all of it out. That's why I went at it."

'Bob' opens series with shutout

The Oilers were good in Game 1. Sergei Bobrovsky was better in the Panthers' 3-0 win.

It wasn't his signature moment of the series, that was winning the Stanley Cup with 23 saves in Game 7, but it was his best game of the series.

Bobrovsky made 32 saves, including 25 in the first 40 minutes, stopping breakaways and 2-on-1s and chances on all three of Edmonton's failed power plays.

He made six saves alone on Connor McDavid, including a highlight-reel stop at 4:31 of the third period, when he got over to the right post to stop a one-timer from the bottom of the left face-off circle.

Bobrovsky became the first goalie in 13 years to get a shutout in Game 1 of the Cup Final. Luongo did it with the Vancouver Canucks in 2011.

He also became the oldest goalie to open the Stanley Cup Final with a shutout. Bobrovsky was 35 years and 262 days at the time; Patrick Roy (35, 233) previously set the record in 2001.

Hype, intros and anthems in Edmonton

The buildup to the opening face-off in Edmonton was simply awesome.

After a hype-up video, the fans, already in full throat, got into it by chanting, "Let's go Oilers" repeatedly for 45 seconds. Then there was another hype-up video before the Oilers themselves came out of the tunnel and onto the ice to Metallica's "Enter Sandman."

After the Oilers’ starting lineup was announced, the fans got back to chanting, "Let's Go Oilers" for almost a minute straight.

If that all doesn't rev you up enough in the building or watching from home, or The Moss Pitt, and it absolutely should, Rob Clark's rendition of "O Canada" will do it.

It's not just the anthem singer in Edmonton who provides his operatic version of the Canadian national anthem; it seems like every one of the 18,347 fans in the building are singing along with him.

It was great in Games 3 and 4. It was at its best in Game 6, when the live decibel meter shown on the scoreboard got up to 113.7 as the Oilers entered the ice to "Enter Sandman."

The fans were chanting "Sergei, Sergei, Sergei" for Bobrovsky as Clark started "The Star-Spangled Banner." Then they sang that with him before "O Canada."

Shania Twain brings Oilers good mojo

Country music star and five-time GRAMMY Award winner Shania Twain rocked the Rogers Festival at the Final, performing a concert on the stage outside Rogers Place before Game 4 on June 15.

Twain played some of her biggest hits in front of a huge crowd that was allowed in for free. Then the Oilers put on the big show, winning 8-1 to stay alive in the Stanley Cup Final.

Twain celebrated with the Oilers after the game, taking pictures with some of their players, including McDavid and Zach Hyman, in the dressing room following the blowout win that extended the series.

Then, if you couldn't get yourself into Rogers Place before Games 3, 4 and 6, the Moss Pit was the next best place to be.

The Moss Pit, named after longtime Oilers dressing room attendant Joey Moss, who died at the age of 57 on Oct. 26, 2020, was the central feature in the outdoor Ford Tailgate Party in ICE District Plaza. 
 
More than 5,000 fans would congregate there, watch the game together, celebrate, party, all decked out in their Oilers gear with makeshift replica Stanley Cups in their hands, signs, everything.

It was the place to be outside Rogers Place, and it was a huge part of what made the atmosphere here second-to-none at a Stanley Cup Final.

McDavid goes through Panthers, Perry scores

Edmonton was on the power play in the second period of Game 5 after Kyle Okposo was called for hooking Mattias Ekholm at 10:02.

The puck went back in the Oilers zone and McDavid went back for it with about 20 seconds left on the man-advantage. He revved up his skates, and away he went, slaloming down the ice, slicing through the Panthers to set up Corey Perry for a goal that put Edmonton up 4-1 at 11:54.

McDavid dodged Eetu Luostarinen by going around him. He knifed right through stick checks from Niko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov. He got close to Bobrovsky, gave a quick shoulder shimmy to get the goalie to poke at him, and curled a pass across the slot to Perry, who went backdoor on Kevin Stenlund, got open and jammed the puck into the net.

It was a breathtaking play by McDavid, otherwise known as “Connor doing Connor things.”

That was his third point in the game. His fourth came on an empty-net goal at 19:41 of the third period to seal the 5-3 final. That goal made McDavid the first player in NHL history to have back-to-back four-point games in the Stanley Cup Final.

Tkachuk dives, saves goal

Matthew Tkachuk gave everything he have to stop Hyman's clearing attempt/shot from going into the empty net at the end of Game 5. In the end it didn't matter, but it was memorable.

Tkachuk raced down the ice, dove on his belly, stick reached out as far as possible, and just before the puck was going to cross the goal line with 21 seconds left, he swept it into the corner as he crashed into the cage.

The fact the puck went to McDavid, who put it into the empty net, did not erase the individual effort from Tkachuk, a play that went viral quickly.

Successful challenge

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch made arguably the most important coaching decision of the series when he challenged Aleksander Barkov's would-be goal in the first minute of the second period of Game 6.

Edmonton took a 2-0 lead on Adam Henrique's goal at 46 seconds of the second period, but 10 seconds later it appeared Barkov got Florida back within one. But there was a pause, and moments later Knoblauch decided to challenge the goal for offside.

If right, the goal comes off the board, leaving Edmonton with a 2-0 lead. If wrong, it's 2-1 and the Panthers get a power play for a failed challenge.

Knoblauch was right. Video review showed Panthers forward Sam Reinhart preceded the puck into the offensive zone. He was offside. The challenge was successful. The Oilers kept their lead, and Hyman later extended the lead to 3-0 with 1:40 remaining in the third period.

Sing-a-long to start Game 7

The atmosphere was electric inside Amerant Bank Arena before Game 7 on Monday, but it was made even better when Alanis Morrisette came out to sing the national anthems.

With plenty of Oilers fans in the building, many having made their way from Edmonton to South Florida with the dream of seeing their team make history, Morrisette started to sing "O Canada," and not long after she was joined by most of the fans in the building.

The sing-a-long got even louder when she began singing "The Star-Spangled Banner," the famous singer being drowned out by the 19,939 in the building.

The whole scene got the energy in the arena revved up even more, and shortly after Game 7 was underway.

Reinhart scores the dream goal

Reinhart got the puck from Carter Verhaeghe, carried it through the neutral zone, across the blue line, looking, looking. He wanted to move it, to pass it, to set up someone else for a scoring chance. But nothing materialized, so Reinhart took it in his own hands.

He got into the right face-off circle and unleashed a 37-foot wrist shot that sailed past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner on the short side, squeezing into the net at 15:11 of the second period in Game 7 on Monday.

The goal gave Florida a 2-1 lead.

The Panthers didn't give up another one, so Reinhart's goal stood as the game-winner.

After the game, amid the celebration on the ice, Reinhart was asked what it means to him to score the goal that every kid with a hockey stick in his hand dreams about scoring.

"It hasn't sunk in," Reinhart said. "I don't think it's real life. We're going to enjoy it, though."

Barkov takes the Cup, first Finnish captain to win it

Aleksander Barkov not only became the first captain in Panthers history to win the Stanley Cup and receive it from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, he also became the first Finnish captain to do it.

"Finland is a huge, huge hockey country and there have been a lot of great captains from Finland and I'm really proud to be the first one," Barkov said.

Barkov is the fifth NHL player born and trained outside of North America to captain his team to the Stanley Cup, joining Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden, Colorado Avalanche in 2022), Alex Ovechkin (Russia, 2018 Washington Capitals), Zdeno Chara (Slovakia, 2011 Boston Bruins) and Nicklas Lidstrom (Sweden, 2008 Detroit Red Wings).

Barkov took the Cup from Commissioner Bettman, skated it around and gave it to Sergei Bobrovsky. When Panthers coach Paul Maurice got it, he looked at it, said a few quiet words, closed his eyes and raised it in the air, a moment that will forever live with him.