The Florida Panthers have taken a commanding 3-2 lead over the Edmonton Oilers within the Stanley Cup Finals. BetMGM has them at -350 to win the collection, and turn into the primary crew in 4 years to win back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Don’t take this text as an obituary for the Oilers. Their efficiency in final 12 months’s Finals reveals that they shouldn’t be counted out simply but.
But it surely’s nonetheless necessary to take inventory of the historic nature of what could also be across the nook for the Panthers. Within the growth period of the NHL, solely eight groups have gained back-to-back titles.
Right here’s a take a look at the final 5 groups to take action.
2021 Tampa Bay Lightning
The 2021 Lightning are the latest crew to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.
These two Stanley Cup victories are well-known, or notorious, as a result of they got here throughout two COVID-19-affected seasons.
In 2020, Tampa defeated the Dallas Stars in a six-game Stanley Cup Finals that occurred in September, with no followers in attendance, in Edmonton’s Rogers Place. Not precisely probably the most conventional of circumstances.
In 2021, the Lightning gained once more, this time towards the Montreal Canadiens and in 5 video games. The nonetheless ongoing pandemic additionally impacted this collection. The Canadian authorities allowed Montreal’s Bell Centre to have solely 3,500 followers in attendance. In the meantime, in Florida, Tampa’s Amalie Area was allowed to be at 85% capability for his or her house video games.
Some argue that these titles ought to have an asterisk as a result of COVID-19 affect, however somebody needed to win the Stanley Cup these years. I’ve a much less excessive tackle this bubble playoffs as a result of it doesn’t have something to do with LeBron James.
Seven of the gamers on Tampa’s 2021 roster are nonetheless with the crew, together with a lot of the core of that championship run.
The Lightning have had their alternatives once more within the playoffs however have been stymied primarily by the emergence of their in-state rivals.
2017 Pittsburgh Penguins
The 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators in six video games, following their victory over the San Jose Sharks the earlier 12 months, additionally in six video games. In each collection, Sidney Crosby gained the Conn Smythe trophy. They had been the primary crew in nearly 20 years to repeat as champions.
It was the third title for Crosby and his longtime co-stars Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, cementing their legacy as a ‘sort of’ dynasty within the NHL.
Since this title in 2017, not a lot has occurred for the Penguins. The next 12 months, the Penguins had been defeated by Crosby’s rival, Alexander Ovechkin, and the Washington Capitals within the second spherical.
They’ve remained a constantly good crew, at one level holding the energetic document for many consecutive playoff appearances.
Crosby, Malkin, and Letang are all nonetheless taking part in for Pittsburgh, however the window of rivalry for an additional Stanley Cup looks like it’s come and gone.
1998 Detroit Purple Wings
The late-90s Purple Wings groups had been stacked, and so they confirmed it by profitable back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 1997, towards the Flyers, and 1998, towards the Capitals, each occasions by way of sweeps, turning into the fourth and most up-to-date crew to take action.
This Detroit Cup crew boasted seven future Corridor of Famers and a future Corridor of Fame coach in Scotty Bowman.
They had been led by Captain Steve Yzerman, who gained the Conn Smythe.
The Purple Wings’ drive to repeat was fueled by a tragic accident that occurred lower than every week after their win in 1997, the place defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov suffered a mind damage in a limousine crash.
Memorably, Detroit honored Konstantinov by bringing him out onto the ice in a wheelchair following their 1998 win, inserting the Stanley Cup in his lap, and taking him on a victory lap across the ice.
The Purple Wings gained the Stanley Cup once more 4 years later and once more in 2008.
1992 Pittsburgh Penguins
The 1992 Penguins crew was one other star-studded roster of hockey legends, with six Corridor of Famers, together with Mario Lemieux and one other future Corridor of Famer, Jaromir Jagr, who, at 53 years previous, remains to be taking part in skilled hockey.
Pittsburgh gained in 1992 by sweeping the Chicago Blackhawks. In 1991, they beat the Minnesota North Stars in six video games.
Lemieux gained the Conn Smythe in each playoff runs. In 1992, he joined the crew late, having missed a number of the common season and postseason. In solely 15 video games performed within the postseason, he had 34 factors, 16 objectives and 18 assists, and was a +6.
General, the Penguins scored 95 objectives of their 21 postseason video games, establishing themselves as an offensive juggernaut.
They had been favored to win a third-straight title in 1993, however had been upset within the second spherical by the Islanders. It wasn’t till 2009, when the Crosby period took maintain, that the Penguins gained the Stanley Cup once more.
1988 Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers in 1988 had been the ultimate incarnation of the dynastic Gretzky period, which gained 4 titles in 5 years. Edmonton had a stellar 16-2 document within the postseason total, principally sleepwalking their strategy to one other Stanley Cup win.
In 1988, their win was a “sweep” towards the Bruins — extra particulars on these quotes later — whereas in 1987, they gained towards the Flyers in seven video games.
It was arguably the Nice One at his apex. He had 43 factors within the playoffs with 12 objectives and 31 assists.
Just a few months later, Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles, and he’d by no means win the Stanley Cup once more.
The 1988 Finals are additionally well-known due to the ‘fog recreation’ in Recreation 4, the place the ability went out within the Boston Backyard. The NHL dominated that the sport could be primarily voided and replayed in Edmonton, giving the Oilers an additional house recreation. They gained the collection, technically, in 4 video games, however they performed 5 video games.
In 1990, the 2 groups met once more, and Edmonton, now with out Gretzky, gained in 5 video games.
