SUNRISE, Fla. — The most weirdly glorious tradition in all of sports told you all you needed to know late Tuesday night as hundreds of plastic and rubber toy black rats rained down as if heaven sent and peppered the sheet of ice — the perfect visual counterpart to the merry bedlam of sonic noise in the building.

The Stanley Cup trophy was ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Bennett has been called many things in his career. A rat. A draft bust. A dirty player.

He can add a new title: Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

Bennett helped the Panthers lift their second straight Stanley Cup with a win over Edmonton on Tuesday, and he won the award given to the playoffs’ most valuable player. Bennett is ...Read more

MIAMI — Step inside the Florida Panthers’ dressing room on Tuesday after their morning skate, and things felt ... normal.

“Another day in paradise,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said at his stall with his usual bubbly smile.

It might seem hard to fathom that this team, just a few short hours from that point, would be playing for a chance to...Read more

Back on March 7, a half-hour before the NHL trade deadline, Paul Maurice went down the hall to congratulate the Florida Panthers' front office on a good day. Their work was done, the coach figured.

“What about Brad Marchand?” general manager Bill Zito said.

Maurice saw he wasn’t joking. And he knew of Zito’s ability to pull off big ...Read more

The Florida Panthers have a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup at home for the second consecutive year on Tuesday night at Amerant Bank Arena.

To be in the building to witness potential South Florida sports history in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, it will set you back a pretty penny.

The cheapest tickets to get in ...Read more

EDMONTON, Alberta — The Florida Panthers have a chance, for a second consecutive season, to win the Stanley Cup in front of their home fans.

Saturday night’s 5-2 Game 5 win at the Edmonton Oilers gave the Panthers that close-out opportunity, taking a 3-2 series lead into a Game 6 Tuesday night at Amerant Bank Arena.

But the Oilers are no ...Read more

EDMONTON, Alberta — The Florida Panthers are one win away from repeating as Stanley Cup champions.

After four games filled with high-stakes action and a lot of scoring, Florida took advantage of a game that was tighter on both ends of the ice to beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday at Rogers Place.

...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Perhaps Mario Lemieux wants to complete the hat trick when it comes to saving the Penguins.

Whatever the reason, Wednesday's news that Lemieux, Ron Burkle and David Morehouse were potentially interested in buying back the franchise from Fenway Sports Group was certainly an attention-grabber — and could lead to a significant ...Read more

Early goals, historically late goals, once-in-a-century comebacks, overtime games that seemed about to end three, four, 17 times before they did, gorgeous goals and saves ... only four games in, this year’s Panthers-Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Final rematch already might be the best sequel since “The Godfather, Part II.” Or, at least, “...Read more

If a champion can’t get over a tough loss, it would have to go 16-0 in order to win a Stanley Cup.

Since an undefeated playoff run of four sweeps is highly unlikely, a team will probably have to go the route of showing resilience in the aftermath of hardship along the way to an NHL crown.

The Florida Panthers have done plenty of it during ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — All of a sudden, Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl found the puck on his stick in front of the net, and it didn’t matter that he had only one hand on his stick because anything could happen this game and everything practically did.

Comebacks. Throwbacks. Miracle twists. Unbelievable turns. Now Draisaitl scored the look-ma-one-hand...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Reinhart scored a game-tying goal with 19.5 seconds left in regulation, but Leon Draisaitl scored 11:18 into overtime as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Florida Panthers, 5-4, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena.

The best-of-7 series is now tied 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday at 8 p.m. from Edmonton�...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — For the second straight season, Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov led the league in scoring. And for the second straight season, it wasn’t enough to win the Hart Trophy as the player voted most valuable to his team.

Kucherov, who claimed the scoring title with 121 points, finished a distant third in Hart Trophy voting, ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Near the end of his introductory press conference on Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena, Dan Muse was asked to describe what he thought might've been a separator during the interview process.

It wasn't anything overly complex, the new Penguins coach insisted. It was almost more about what Muse lacked (give-a-darn) than what he ...Read more

The Florida Panthers have a trio of big players in forwards Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad who are mere weeks away from hitting the open market as free agents.

They’re all thriving as Florida inches closer to repeating as champions.

The group has said throughout the Cup Final, which Florida leads 2-1 heading into Game 4 on ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Penguins icon Mario Lemieux is interested in buying back the NHL franchise from Fenway Sports Group, according to a report from Canadian sports network TSN.

However, FSG said in a statement that it does not wish to sell control of the team.

“We’ve seen the speculation, and as we’ve previously shared with media, Fenway ...Read more