Top 10 moments of Stanley Cup Final included plenty of drama, history

The repeat is complete.

The Florida Panthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, finishing off the Edmonton Oilers once again, winning Game 6 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena 5-1 on Tuesday, 359 days after they defeated the Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 at Amerant Bank Arena to win their first championship.

Sam Bennett was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to his 15 goals, including an NHL-record 13 on the road. The center scored five goals in the Final.

Three of the six games in the Final went to overtime, including one in double overtime. It featured three comeback wins, two by the Oilers and one by the Panthers. It also featured the latest and the second-latest game-tying goals in Stanley Cup Final history.

There were celebrities in the building, most notably Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce taking in Game 4 in Florida.

It ended with the Panthers repeating as Stanley Cup champions.

Here are the top 10 moments from a memorable six-game series:

1. "Aleksander Barkov, let's do it again."

Those were the words of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman as he once again, for the second straight year, called Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov up to hoist the Stanley Cup.

Barkov picked it up, brought it over to his teammates, joined them in a celebration with it raised over his head. Then he did a half lap before starting a Stanley Cup processional that celebrated the first-time winners with the Panthers.

Barkov handed it to defenseman Nate Schmidt, and with the urging of forward Matthew Tkachuk, he took a full lap before passing the Stanley Cup to defenseman Seth Jones. Then it went to forward Tomas Nosek, to goalie Vitek Vanecek, to forward A.J. Greer, who gave it to forward Jesper Boqvist, who then gave it to forward Mackie Samoskevich.

Samoskevich gave it to defenseman Uvis Balinskis and fellow defenseman Jaycob Megna before finally to third-string goalie Evan Cormier, who had the honor of handing the Stanley Cup to No. 1 goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. He then handed it off to forward Brad Marchand.

For a group of players who have spoken extensively throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs about how welcoming the room is, how important everyone is made to feel, it was fitting for all the first-time winners to get their unforgettable lap with the Stanley Cup before all the players who already have their name engraved on the silver trophy.

2. Four score for Reinhart

The Panthers won four out of six games to win the Stanley Cup. Sam Reinhart scored four goals in Game 6 to help his team get to the top of the mountain once again.

The forward made it 1-0 at 4:36 of the first period. He scored to make it 3-0 at 17:31 of the second period, then 4-0 with his first empty-net goal at 13:26 of the third period and his fourth and second empty-netter at 14:55 to make it 5-0.

He became the first player in 103 years and just the second in NHL history to score four goals in a Stanley Cup-clinching win. The other was Babe Dye for the Toronto St. Patricks in 1922.

Reinhart also scored in Games 3, 4 and 5, giving him seven in the series, making him the first player since Wayne Gretzky in 1985 to score seven goals in a Stanley Cup Final. Mike Bossy scored seven with the New York Islanders in 1982, and Jean Beliveau did it with the Montreal Canadiens in 1956.

Nobody has scored more than seven goals in a Stanley Cup Final in the NHL's expansion era (since 1968).

The only hiccup is Reinhart didn't get the game-winning goal. That went to Matthew Tkachuk, Florida's only other goal scorer in Game 6, after Edmonton forward Vasily Podkolzin scored to make it 5-1 with 4:42 to play.

Reinhart was that close to becoming the first player since Bossy in 1982 to repeat as the game-winning scorer in the Cup-clinching game; Reinhart did it last year in Game 7 for the Panthers.

3. Marchand's highlight-reel goals in Game 5

As if Marchand's first goal in Game 5 wasn't good enough ...

When Panthers center Anton Lundell lost the center-ice face-off to the Oilers' Leon Draisaitl, Marchand was quick to the puck and first on it. He made a move to his backhand, cutting inside Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm before putting a forehanded shot past goalie Calvin Pickard from the left circle to give Florida a 1-0 lead at 9:12 of the first period.

How about his second goal ...

When he got the puck from Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen in space and with speed, made a move to get around Oilers defenseman Jake Walman, went with a forehand-backhand deke and slipped the puck through Pickard's five-hole to give Florida a 3-0 lead at 5:12 of the third period.

Marchand's first goal of the game gave him five in the Stanley Cup Final, making him the first player in NHL history to score at least five goals in the Stanley Cup Final with two different teams. Marchand also had five with the Boston Bruins in 2011, his first time winning the Stanley Cup.

His sixth goal made him the first player to score at least six goals in the Stanley Cup Final since 1988, when Esa Tikkanen scored six with the Oilers.

4. Pickard's save on Bennett in Game 4

Before Draisaitl scored in overtime to give Edmonton a 5-4 victory in Game 4, evening the series 2-2, there was Pickard's got-just-enough-on-it glove save on Bennett to keep the game going and prevent the Panthers from taking a 3-1 series lead.

Bennett got the puck from defenseman Niko Mikkola and from the left circle tried to wire a shot into the net. Instead of going in, Pickard got the top edge of his glove on the puck, ricocheting it high enough to have it then hit the crossbar.

The save was marked on the play-by-play sheet at 6:48. Draisaitl scored at 11:18.

5. Draisaitl's OT winner in Game 4

Speaking of Draisaitl's overtime winner in Game 4, not only was it historic, it capped one of the wildest games in recent Stanley Cup Final history.

The Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, but the Oilers responded with three goals in the second to send the game into the third tied 3-3.

Walman gave Edmonton a 4-3 lead at 13:36, but Reinhart scored to tie it 4-4 at 19:40, the second latest game-tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history after forward Corey Perry's goal in Game 2, which we will get to down below.

Pickard made that save on Bennett, and then Draisaitl scored the winner seconds after coming off the bench on a line change. With one hand on his stick, he shoved the puck to the net from the right face-off circle. It went off the right skate of Mikkola through Bobrovsky's legs.

Draisaitl became the first player in NHL history to score four overtime goals in the same postseason.

6. Reinhart's goal in Game 3

It was a 6-1 game, but Reinhart's goal in Game 3 stood out for several reasons.

For starters, it gave Florida a 3-1 lead just 80 seconds after Perry scored on the power play to make it 2-1.

Secondly, it was the first time Barkov and Reinhart combined in a big play in the series. They were a combined minus-7 without a point in the first two games.

Third, and most important, it was a darn beauty.

Barkov forced Oilers defenseman John Klingberg into a turnover in the corner, possibly even using referee Francis Charron as a barrier to help him. It was a smart and physical play by Barkov.

Forward Carter Verhaeghe got the puck and backhanded a pass to Reinhart in the left circle. He quickly zipped a shot through Walman's legs and then Skinner's five-hole.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice called it the "inflection point in the game."

7. Marchand delivers in double overtime

Marchand made sure the Panthers did not go home down 2-0 in the series, when he scored at 8:05 of the second overtime to give Florida a 5-4 win in Game 2.

Ekholm missed the net on a shot from the left point, and the puck came all the way out the far side, taking a hop toward the middle.

Marchand read it perfectly, skated ahead of Ekholm, Draisaitl and defenseman Evan Bouchard, with Lundell noticing him and pushing the puck ahead to send him in alone on Skinner.

Marchand went to his backhand, somehow held onto the puck despite Draisaitl's backcheck and shoved it through Skinner's five-hole for his fifth overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and second this postseason.

8. Perry's historic goal sends Game 2 into OT

Perry scored the latest game-tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history, tying Game 2 4-4 at 19:42 of the third period.

The previous latest game-tying goal in Cup Final history was scored by Tod Sloan of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 against the Montreal Canadiens in 1951 (19:28 of the third).

Perry scored from between the circles on a rebound of Walman's shot from the point. Perry simply outmuscled Luostarinen to get his stick on the puck so he could snap it into the net.

9. McDavid makes magic in Game 2

Connor McDavid's assist on Draisaitl's goal at 12:37 of the first of Game 2 gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead. By the end of that wild night it was a mere footnote in what was a 5-4 double overtime Panthers win.

But that assist was arguably the single best individual play of the series, a brilliant player making a breathtaking play.

The Oilers captain got the puck from Draisaitl on top of the left circle. He head-faked Barkov, a three-time Selke Trophy winner as the League's best defensive forward, including this season. Barkov went one way, McDavid the other, cutting into the left circle, the Panthers' center left spinning.

McDavid then pulled out the curl-and-drag move on defenseman Aaron Ekblad, finding space between Ekblad and Barkov. Then he threaded a pass between Lundell and defenseman Gustav Nyquist right to Draisaitl, who had an easy goal from low in the right circle.

10. Draisaitl wins Game 1 in overtime

Remember last year, when Draisaitl didn't score in any of the seven games in the Stanley Cup Final? Well, he quickly avoided going through that kind of scoring slump in this one, scoring 66 seconds into Game 1.

But his first biggest goal of the series came more than three hours later, when he won Game 1 for Edmonton on the power play at 19:29 of overtime, the first of many signature moments in this epic series.

Draisaitl scored on the Oilers' 46th shot on goal. All five Edmonton skaters on the ice touched the puck. It went down the left side from Bouchard to forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to Perry to McDavid and then finally across to Draisaitl, who scored from the right hash marks.

Florida forward Tomas Nosek was in the box for a delay of game, puck over the glass penalty.

Edmonton got Game 1 to overtime by coming back from down 3-1 with goals from forward Viktor Arvidsson at 3:17 of the second period and Ekholm at 6:33 of the third.