Two Canadians scored for the Florida Panthers in game one of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final on Saturday, a 3-0 Panthers win over the Edmonton Oilers at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. They were Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues of Toronto, Ontario. Verhaeghe scored the game-winning goal at 3:59 of the first period from Sam Reinhart of West Vancouver, British Columbia and captain Aleksander Barkov. Rodrigues then scored an insurance goal at 2:16 of the second period to put Florida up 2-0. Sam Bennett of Holland Landing, Ontario, and defenseman Brandon Montour of Brantford, Ontario picked up the assists on an all-Canadian goal.
For Verhaeghe it was his 10th career Stanley Cup Playoff game-winning goal. All goals have come with the Panthers, which is a franchise high. He also has 25 postseason goals, which is the most in Panthers playoff history. Verhaeghe is also the Panthers postseason leader in even strength goals (20), overtime winners (five), and even strength points (43).
The Panthers were actually outplayed by the Oilers in game one. Edmonton outshot Florida 32-17. However the Panthers won with strong goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky, who was simply magical in between the Panthers pipes.
Game two is Monday in south Florida. The series then shifts to Edmonton on Thursday and Saturday.
