Panthers to end season with first Stanley Cup championship

The Florida Panthers will win the Stanley Cup for two simple reasons: No one has the puck more. And no one puts it in the net more often.

The Panthers were the best possession team in the NHL this season, controlling 56.5 percent of the shot attempts 5-on-5. It helped them win the Presidents' Trophy as the top team in the regular-season standings and is a good sign for success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And they didn't just lead the NHL in goals. They scored 337, more than any team since 1995-96. Although they had one of the best power plays in the NHL at 24.4 percent, they didn't rely on it; their 219 goals in 5-on-5 play led the NHL.
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They didn't rely on one line either. They had 13 players score at least 10 goals. Left wing Jonathan Huberdeau finished second in the NHL with 115 points (30 goals, 85 assists) and usually didn't play with first-line center Aleksander Barkov at even strength. Now consider Huberdeau has a new right wing in Claude Giroux, whom the Panthers acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on March 19. Giroux had 23 points (three goals, 20 assists) in 18 games with the Panthers, and Florida went 15-3-0 in games he played.
Florida is a matchup nightmare, a team with elite talent and considerable depth, capable of finding different heroes each game in tight playoff series.
The Panthers have a good defense to complement the elite offense.

They acquired defenseman Ben Chiarot from the Montreal Canadiens on March 16. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad, out since sustaining a lower-body injury at the Anaheim Ducks on March 18, is expected to return during the Eastern Conference First Round against the Washington Capitals. Prior to his injury, Ekblad had set a personal NHL best with 57 points (15 goals, 42 assists) in 61 games.
The Panthers have not won a postseason series since they reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1996 and were swept by the Colorado Avalanche, and the Presidents' Trophy winner has not won the Stanley Cup since the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.
But the Panthers have been building to this moment for years. They went toe to toe with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the back-to-back Cup champions, in a six-game loss in the Stanley Cup First Round last year. And is it really an argument against them that they were the best team in the NHL during the regular season?
The Presidents' Trophy was just the start.