A beginner's guide to the Florida Panthers: Stanley Cup Final edition
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Oilers center Connor McDavid charges for the rebound after a save by Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky during a game this season. Photo: Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
In case you haven't heard, Miami is a hockey town now and the Florida Panthers are the hottest thing in South Florida sports.
Why it matters: The Panthers will be the talk of the town this week as the Cats hunt for a second straight Stanley Cup championship against the Edmonton Oilers.
Yes, but: Bandwagon fans — this is a safe zone.
If you have never watched a game before or only recently started following the team, here's a guide for how to fake it.
Catch up quick: Longtime Panthers fans — who celebrated their team's first Stanley Cup last year — will remind you that they lived through a lot of losing before the team's recent turnaround.
- After making the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, Florida didn't win another playoff series until 2022.
- The Panthers have since made the Final in three consecutive years.
State of play: In a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers will again take on the Oilers.
- Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday in Edmonton. Games 3 and 4 (and 6, if necessary) will be at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
How it works: Hockey is a contact sport with big hits and, sometimes, all-out fights.
- Games have three periods of 20 minutes each.
- In the playoffs, if the score is tied after three periods, the teams play 20-minute sudden-death overtime periods until someone scores.
- Unlike regular-season hockey, there are no shootouts.
- Illegal hits and fighting will draw a time penalty, which leaves the offending team(s) with one fewer player for the duration of the penalty. (Florida is the most penalized team in the NHL this season).
Fun fact: All 32 teams in the NHL play a different goal horn when their team scores.
- Here are Florida's and Edmonton's.
Names to know: Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, team captain and three-time Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov and left winger Matthew Tkachuck are the team's most popular players.
- Oilers center Connor McDavid leads the NHL in points scored this playoffs.
Superstitions and friendship: For all its on-ice violence, hockey is a wholesome game played by superstitious friends.
Exhibit A: After winning the Eastern Conference Final, the Panthers refused to touch the Prince of Wales Trophy for fear of bad luck. (They touched it in 2023 and lost the Stanley Cup Final, then abstained in 2024 and won the championship).
- The Oilers, who won the Western Conference Final, touched the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl this year after not touching it last year and losing in the Stanley Cup finals.
Exhibit B: After each Panthers win — during which fans toss rats onto the ice — it has become a ritual for players to shoot rats at center Brad Marchand, who has been called a "rat" for being an agitator on the ice.
Exhibit C: If shooting rats at each other doesn't scream friendship, how about grabbing Dairy Queen before a big game like the Panthers did last round?
Want to watch the Stanley Cup Final? Keep reading for our recommendations