NHL: Draisaitls déjà-vu: Panthers again Stanley Cup winner

Nico Sturm raised the Stanley Cup as the last player of the Florida Panthers. With a superior 5: 1 against the Edmonton Oilers, the German international won the most important ice hockey trophy in the world for the second time in his career. His compatriot Leon Draisaitl, on the other hand, has to wait for another bitter disappointment to fulfill his greatest sporting dream: As in the past year, Edmonton failed on the Panthers, this time after six out of seven possible games.

“I am disappointed. The apprenticeship is that we have not won. Nobody was interested. We have decided to win, have lost again and stand there with empty hands. The goal has to be back,” said Draisaitl after the final ko and added: “We scored too few goals and collected too many, made too many mistakes.”

No goal shot for draisaitl

Draisaitl scored 11 goals in 22 playoff games this season and prepared 22 – in Sunrise a little outside the Miami metropolis, but on Tuesday evening (local time) he did not score a single shot on the goal of the hosts. His team -mate Connor McDavid was not the main actor this time, but Sam Reinhart with four goals for the Panthers.

“It is not easy to come back. You know how hard it is. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not. But now we are here and have managed this task,” said Reinhart.

A year ago, the Florida team won the first three games against the Oilers, but then collected three defeats in series, so that there was a decisive seventh game. The Panthers won this almost 2-1.

This time, too, the ice rink in Florida was a place of bitter disappointment with the Canadians and exuberant jubilation at the Panthers – however, the final series was previously decided than last year. After four games, it was 2-2 after Siegen, but then the Panthers took control. There was a 5-2 in Edmonton, and on the first opportunity they made the championship perfect at home.

“We lost to a really good team,” said McDavid. “Nobody gave up, nobody threw the towel, but that’s just a damn good team. They defended the Stanley Cup for good reason.”

Panthers meet early and play almost flawlessly

Three days after their victory in Edmonton, the hosts led 2-0 after the first third. Reinhart had scored 1-0 in the fifth minute, 47 seconds before the siren Matthew Tkachuk scored the second goal. A dropout of Oilers goalkeeper Stuart Skinner then enabled Reinhart his second goal. The Panthers allowed themselves barely visible mistakes and again struck ice cold when the Oilers took their goalkeeper off the ice seven minutes before the end and tried it with six field players: 26 seconds later Reinhart scored into the empty goal for the 4-0. When he marked his fourth goal of the day at 5-0, the game was already decided. Wassili Podkolsin’s gate was a pure cosmetic of results.

Sam Bennett won the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He scored 15 goals for the Panthers in the most important season phase and prepared another seven goals.