SUNRISE, Fla. — The Edmonton Oilers’ Greatest NHL Story Ever Told turned out to be unfinished work.
Instead, the Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions for the first time after defeating the Oilers, 2-1, on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena.
The home team staved off an all-time choke after losing the previous three games in the series.
Sam Reinhart’s goal late in the second period proved to be the game-winner, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 of 23 shots after having allowed 12 goals across the three losses.
Those waiting for Connor McDavid, aka the Best Player in the World, to finally take over and cement the Oilers’ dream will have to wait till next year.
So will those rooting for a first Stanley Cup champion from north of the border since the Canadiens defeated the Kings in 1993.
And Edmonton failed to add a sixth title, which would have been the first without either Wayne Gretzky (four) or Mark Messier (one) as captain.
McDavid, however, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP throughout the playoffs, his league-leading 42 points holding up.
Fans booed Commissioner Gary Bettman moments before the Stanley Cup was paraded onto the ice and Bettman handed it to Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov.
Things got a little dicey for Bobrovsky with about seven minutes to go when McDavid was loose in the slot with the puck.
The playoff MVP couldn’t get off a clean shot but the goalie ended up having to make a save on Zach Hyman.
With 3:40 on the clock, Bobrovsky sprawled on the ice several times and even lost his stick, but the Oilers could never find the handle.
The Oilers continued to apply the pressure and the decibel level in the building elevated even more, but the red light behind Bobrovsky remained unlit.
The puck ended up in a scrum in the right corner as the horn sounded, the Cats rushed Bobrovsky and the team’s signature rubber rats pelted the ice.
The teams wasted little time getting right to the action.
Florida was awarded the first power play when Brandon Montour took a high stick from Warren Foegele in front of the Panthers’ net.
The Oilers beat the rap for the 47th time in their last 48 penalty kills.
But as Foegele returned, the Panthers still had the puck, worked it low to high, and scored when Carter Verhaeghe deflected Evan Rodrigues’ shot just 4:27 into the game for a 1-0 Panthers lead.
Montour factored again a few minutes later when he blocked McDavid’s shot attempt from the left circle. But the Oilers got the equalizer at 6:44 when Cody Ceci found Mattias Janmark with a stretch pass and Janmark beat Bobrovsky to the stick side.
By first period’s end, the Panthers had the edge in hits, 17-5, and shots on goal, 8-6.
That latter stat included another zero for McDavid, who went the entire Game 6 Oilers victory without registering a shot.
The superstar’s first shot came two minutes into the second period on a backhander from the bottom of the left circle which Bobrovsky ushered away.
The Oilers’ first power play came 3:22 into the second period as Matthew Tkachuk fell and his leg tripped Foegele.
The Oilers worked the puck around the Florida zone for nearly the whole two minutes but Bobrovsky had the answers to an in-close shot by Leon Draisaitl and a one-timer by Evan Bouchard.
The man-up opportunity tilted the ice in Edmonton’s favor for about five minutes before the Panthers started to perk up again.
Dmitry Kulikov made a crucial play, clearing the puck off his goal line with Dylan Holloway closing in on it.
The puck went to Verhaeghe, who fed Reinhart down the right side. Reinhart’s wrist shot beat Stuart Skinner low to the glove side with 4:49 to go in the period to make it 2-1 Panthers, a lead they carried to the Promised Land.
The Oilers’ season was already one for the record books before their historic Stanley Cup Final comeback attempt.
Head coach Jay Woodcroft was fired after a 3-9-1 start and Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson and GM Ken Holland reached into the minor leagues to find a gem.
Kris Knoblauch, who had been serving as the coach of the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, earlier had coached McDavid in the superstar’s final three years in juniors with the Erie Otters.
After an early three-game losing streak under Knoblauch, the Oilers reeled off eight consecutive wins.
And following a second three-game skid, they won 16 games in a row, the second-longest streak in the history of the NHL.
So the 0-3 start to the Cup final turned out to be nothing new to them, but ended up being too big a hill to climb.