Even if the Florida Panthers’ season doesn’t end with a Stanley Cup win, the 2022-2023 class will forever be able to boast of being the first to win the Finals.
Carter Verhaeghe made history for the Florida franchise by scoring the winning goal in overtime against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night. Need we remind you that the Panthers were defeated in four games by the Colorado Avalanche in 1996?
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In his fourth appearance in the final, Patrick Roy only gave the big cats crumbs, i.e. four small goals. The “Avs” won the first game 3-1 before beating the Panthers 8-1 in Denver. Peter Forsberg had scored a hat trick in this convincing win.
However, the similarities to the series against the Knights, who won the first two games in Vegas 5-2 and 7-2, don’t end there. In 1996, the Avalanche won Game 3 by a score of 3-2. This time, the Panthers repelled bad luck by signing their own win on Thursday with that score.
From the time of “Casseau” many will remember the dramatic turn that the fourth meeting took. At the start of the third overtime, Uwe Krupp scored the only goal in Colorado’s 1-0 win. Roy blocked no fewer than 63 shots during this heroic performance.
In front of their fans on Saturday, the Panthers will try to get 2-2 in the series.