2023 Stanley Cup Final Game 7, Panthers vs Golden Knights
Florida's long wait ended in six games of ice, grit, and a first-ever Cup.
The 2023 Stanley Cup Final pitted the Florida Panthers against the Vegas Golden Knights in a best-of-seven series that ultimately concluded in six games, not seven. The Panthers, making their first Cup Final appearance in franchise history, defeated the Golden Knights 4–2 to claim their first-ever Stanley Cup championship. This entry addresses the series as a whole, noting that the clinching Game 6 ended the contest before a Game 7 was necessary.
For fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the broader NHL landscape, this series represented the culmination of a remarkable 2022–23 postseason and a statement about the competitive depth of the league. The Panthers' run through the playoffs—past the New York Islanders, the Carolina Hurricanes, and finally the Golden Knights—was one of the most talked-about campaigns of the decade.
- Series result
- Florida Panthers 4, Vegas Golden Knights 2
- Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoff MVP)
- Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers
- Franchise milestone
- First Stanley Cup in Florida Panthers history
- Season
- 2022–23
- Series clinched in
- Game 6
Lore & Background
The 2022–23 season was one of the most electric in recent NHL memory, and the Stanley Cup Final between the Panthers and the Golden Knights capped it in style. Florida, a team that had never before reached the Final, carried the weight of an entire franchise's history onto the ice. Their roster—anchored by Sergei Bobrovsky between the pipes, Sam Bennett at centre, and a depth group that refused to blink—played with a ferocity that felt almost personal, as though every shift was a rebuttal to a decade of near-misses.
The Golden Knights, by contrast, were a team built for this moment. Vegas had reached the Final the previous year and carried a core of elite talent—Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault—who understood the rhythm of a Cup run. Their style was fluid, creative, and relentless in the offensive zone. The two teams produced a series defined by goaltending duels, high-tempo transitions, and the kind of physicality that makes a hockey fan's pulse race.
For the Blue Jackets faithful watching from Columbus, the 2023 Final was a reminder of how thin the line is between a team that falls one round short and a team that lifts the Cup. The Panthers' journey through the playoffs—particularly their dramatic elimination of Carolina—mirrored the kind of heartbreak and hope that defines the sport for fans in Ohio. The series was a masterclass in what the NHL's postseason can be when two teams are genuinely, terrifyingly good.
In Their Own Story
The arena hummed like a living thing. The ice was fresh, the boards still cold to the touch, and the crowd noise rolled in waves that made the floorboards vibrate beneath the skates. A puck dropped, and the world narrowed to the space between two sticks. You could hear the slap of a blade carving into ice, the soft thud of a glove catching a wrist shot, the collective breath of twenty thousand people held in a single, suspended second. Then the net rippled, and the sound that followed was not a cheer so much as a release—a decade of almost, of so close, of next year, finally breaking open into something that could not be taken back. The players piled in the corner, helmets off, faces streaked with sweat and something that looked, in the floodlights, like joy. The ice beneath them was already being resurfaced for the next game, the next season, the next team. But for this one moment, it belonged to Florida.
Reader's Guide
The 2023 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the 2022–23 NHL season, contested between the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights. It was the first time in franchise history that the Panthers had reached the Final, and the second consecutive year the Golden Knights made the run.
The series was a six-game affair. Florida won 4–2, with Sergei Bobrovsky posting a series of standout performances between the pipes and Sam Bennett delivering the kind of consistent, two-way play that earns a Conn Smythe Trophy. The Golden Knights, despite the loss, played with the confidence of a team that had been to this stage before and understood the tempo required.
The series is remembered for its goaltending duels, its physical intensity, and the emotional weight of Florida's first Cup. For the wider NHL fanbase, it was a reminder that the sport's narrative is never fixed—that a team can spend years building toward a single, defining week and finally arrive. For Blue Jackets fans, it was a bittersweet mirror: the same league, the same stakes, the same razor-thin line between triumph and heartbreak that makes Columbus a city that lives and dies by hockey.
Did You Know?
- The 2023 Stanley Cup Final was the first time the Florida Panthers had ever appeared in the championship series, ending a franchise history of near-misses and early playoff exits.
- Sam Bennett, a centreman, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2023 playoffs—a rare honour for a player whose primary role is playmaking rather than scoring volume.
- The Golden Knights had also reached the 2023 Final the previous year, making them a back-to-back Finalist, a testament to the stability and depth of their roster construction.
- The Panthers' road to the Final included a dramatic elimination of the Carolina Hurricanes, a series that stretched to a Game 7 and became one of the most discussed matchups of the 2023 postseason.