Tuesday morning sports: Panthers take Stanley Cup

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions for the first time.

Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe scored goals, Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves and the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Monday night in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

It was the third title-round appearance in Florida’s 30-year history; it was swept in 1996 by Colorado and routed 4-1 by Vegas last season.

This time, they were on the right side of history — after avoiding what would have been a historic collapse. The Panthers won the first three games of the series, then lost the next three and needed a win on Monday to avoid joining the 1942 Detroit Red Wings as the only teams to lose the final after taking a 3-0 lead in the title round.

It wasn’t easy. Not even close. But it’s done. It took until the very end for the Panthers to deny Connor McDavid his first title.

One other sports note from Monday:

New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz was suspended 10 games by Major League Baseball after his ejection from a 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs for having a foreign substance on his hand.

Díaz became the eighth pitcher suspended for sticky stuff since MLB cracked down on pitchers attempting to use foreign substances to improve their grip and spin rates in 2021. Three of them have been Mets, including Max Scherzer and Drew Smith last year. Díaz’s suspension will start with Tuesday’s Subway Series opener against the New York Yankees at Citi Field unless the pitcher appeals.

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