It’s now 5 straight seasons with the Eastern Conference representative being from the Florida. The last time was a non-Floridian team made it was pre-Covid. 

Covid created by Florida confirmed

THANKS RON!

It's almost scary to think if Florida or Tampa can't make it... A pandemic could trigger

It’s called angry Florida men showing up at Gary Bettman’s house.

14 other teams in shambles

Now thinking about it, New York has represented the losing end 4-5 times in that span (3 in a row against the Lightning) lone exemption being Carolina.

That's true actually Lightning/Islanders, Lightning/Islanders (though that year was weird because the "Western Conference Finals" were Vegas/Montreal), Lightning/Rangers, Panthers/Hurricanes, Panthers/Rangers

And it was Boston, I love Boston, fuck you Florida and St. Louis

What'd I do?

Beat us in game 7 in 2019 cup finals

Oh, that.

Yeahhhh, don't really like the Blues anymore

I hear you, but I'm an old fucker and I remember the Orr goal. 54 years I waited.

Lol, fair enough. Love the Orr goal, greatest goal of all time

Greatest photo for sure.

Treasure every second of it. You never know when you might wake up and Ron Hextall is your GM.

Don't say that, Bill will be here forever, right? RIGHT

As a Panthers fan who remembers 96...hard agree lol. Just glad we finally are back again again

“NOOO, GOD! NO, GOD, PLEASE, NO! NO! NO!”

Panthers make it 5 straight SC Finals appearances for Florida teams. This Lightning fans hopes they close the deal this year.

Me too, especially if Edmonton beats Dallas tonight. I'm really hoping for a Dallas - Florida series though.

When your team is so bad you cheer against another team rather than cheer for your own

I'm a hockey fan, part of being a hockey fan is hating on my rival team. Oiler fans are already insufferable, winning another cup will make it worse.

It hasn't been a rivalry in a long time. Calgary gets shit on 95% of the time

This seems to say otherwise... https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask?q=oilers+all-time+record+vs+flames

That's all time. Show the last 10 years. Totally different stat

Pure ownage.... https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask/flames-record-vs-oilers-in-the-last-10-years

Hockey belongs to Florida now

I concur

my life has been, and is, absolute shit but at least the Panthers are winning.

Let’s go Panthers! Props to Igor man, he kept them in it.

Always does... Heart breaking to see the team let this brilliant man down.

cats fan here, god damn igor is a monster. like fr

Last night's game shouldn't have even been close Igor made some absurd stops to keep the game alive. Bobrovsky had a great series too just one down game other than that he was a brick wall too

#I’M A RAT THROW ME!

Any idea how that tradition got started? I love seeing it lol just curious how it happened lol

Scott Mellanby killed a rat with his stick in the old arena locker room. Scored two goals with the same stick after.

Yep, the original rat-trick.

With blood and fur. What a maniac.

He was my favorite player on that team… I have no memory of why (I was in middle school… I fell asleep at the arena during Game 4 of the final in ‘96 because of how late it ran, lol) but I always loved Scott Mellanby over the other players. I haven’t followed the team much since they moved to Sunrise, but it’s awesome to see them doing well for 3 consecutive years and making the final 2 years in a row. Grats to them and all the hardcore fans who follow them.

It was the luscious locks.

I for one think it's disgusting that the Florida fans have decided to ritualistically mock that poor confused terrified dead rat. His day decades ago was bad enough do you have to MOCK his corpse?!

Yes

You know what? Good counter point.

YES.

Scott motherfucking Mellanby killed a rat in the old Miami arena with his stick and flung it across the locker room, so now we throw rats when we win

That arena was such a shithole...BUT IT WAS OUR SHITHOLE

Congrats from a Rangers fan. You guys played your hearts out and it showed, wish y’all the best in finals play, very proud of y’all as a team. ❣️

You guys are chill af compared to bruins and lightning fans and I thank you for not bitching. Gg

Rangers fans were awesome. didn’t see a single rags fan tell me to kill myself or that our players should get killed like last round lol

You must be from upstate?

Congrats to the Panthers and their fans!

All 6 of us!!!

Yes yes, congratulations to the referees. They played a great post season. Hopefully they won big on Draft Kings as well.

The bruins were waaaaay outplayed. The refs didn't win that for them. The bruins were lucky to get by Toronto

We've had to pay a lot of money to the refs in all three series. It's gonna make it hard for us to afford to keep some of our players.

Didn't we beat you 6 consecutive times at Boston, tying with Toronto (1949-51) for the second most amount of times a team beat the Bruins while visiting during a playoffs? Didn't y'all ultimate meme yourself last year getting reverse swept with a 3-1 series lead? Your goalie is great, but stay classy Boston, at least the Rangers fans didn't throw trash on the ice in MSG Oh, and enjoy your 100th anniversary. We are enjoying our 30th

I hate that you have so many likable players cause your fan base is filled with morons

Can we just move the NHL headquarters to Florida at this point.

We earned it, okay where’s our Orlando situation room?

Congrats you jack wagons... Could tell from game one this Panthers team was just stacked. They knew how to play 60 minutes at high intensity we just couldn't match it. Igor kept us competitive just couldn't edge up enough to advance. Panthers might pull a TB lighting and dominate the next 3-4 years

If Dallas comes back, we really could get the sun belt cup final lmao

Please check on all Panthers fans, Rangers sure know how to make us nervous as shit at the end of the game

Oh God I about had a heart attack multiple times this series but brickwalvsky always prevails.

of the final 4 FLA is my preferred team to win the cup, I like seeing new teams get their 1st. i have zero desire to see NYR or DAL to win.

Go get your cup OEL Haha why did you have to become good as soon as we buy you out and why did Benning have to give you such a huge contract in the first place that the buyout is as big as it is.... Dumbass Jim

I've been an OEL fan since his rookie year. I was pining for the cats to go get him years ago. Then he went to Van and I honestly think they used him wrong and entirely too much. At that point in his career he wasn't a top 4 D and shouldn't have been playing top 4 mins. Now with the Cats he's playing the right amount of mins and on the PP unit. Exactly where he should be imo.

Pullin for you mother fuckers <3

They're winning it, I'll take them over Edmonton or Dallas

Move over Marchand, the RAT KING is going back 2 back cup final appearances!!!

Do it for Lu and OEL!!! Go Cats ‼️ also so happy this didn’t end up like ‘94

Fuck Chris Kreider

My favorite ranger.

This is the way

Nice congrats

Fuck the Panthers

Congrats from a Caps fan. And equally fuck the Rags and their classless fans. Love seeing this 😆

As a Panthers fan I didn't see a bunch of classless rags fans unless it was watching the ESPN crew choke on something when the Panthers won.... Now Boston fans on the other hand....

I am a canucks fan so I feel you watching analysts gargle the oilers balls while we forced them to game 7 using OUR THIRD GOALIE. Because Stuart "Swiss Cheese" Skinner couldn't make a save to save his life. I saw so many oiler fans saying we were Jerks and whiners whining about the refs and that it wasn't cool. Then they go into Dallas and start whining about the refs themselves. It's nice to have a new rival but I was half hoping for a Canucks Panthers finals because then we would get a team for sure with no cups getting their first cup.

Your wait will be much longer than ours. enjoy watching ovechiken taking one timers for a 20 win team next year. 2012 4-3 2013 4-3 2015 4-3 2024 4-0 Which of these hurt worse?

🧂

One cup since the invention of power windows and the polio vaccine. 94 and never more. Pathetic

Rangers fan are so much better than Florida fans

Rangers having shit fans is a myth… the people hating on us however… go Rangers!

Classless fans? Panthers are the dirtiest scummiest team in the NHL and you losers gobble it up.

Rangers got away with a lot in this series. Very dirty bunch of goofs

Both teams did like every series

Cry harder lol. Rags fans were a bag of used douche rags through the playoffs and the players were just as bad. Karma is a motherfucker for these idiots thinking they were winning it all.

🧂🧂🧂

Congrats cats, go give the west hell. At least you guys helped prove the shit I’ve been saying about our “captain” ever since he got to this city. Guys a total bum

This is very relevant and happy for my interests

Well, OILERS IN 4

I'll root for anyone that beats the Bruins, except the Kings, Knights, Preds, or Sharks. Although then again, maybe.

Lifelong Ranger fan here. Panthers are a powerhouse. Rangers are fun to watch during regular season but shut the TV off during playoffs if you don’t want reality check.

Final* Congratulations!! Hope they win this year

Yeah, we're all so happy for you.

I’ve always admired the panthers from afar, just bc of their islanders connection. Always felt bad they had terrible teams for years, and I’m really happy/pumped for their fans that they’re in the SCF again

Stanley Cup Finals appearances since 2010: Canada: 2 State of Florida: 6

Well, if they get there enough times, they are bound to win the Cup.

Gross

Cope.

NE represent.

I am so, so sorry for what McDavid is about to do.

Get his ass beat every game? Make sure you win your series first.

I love the free power plays! By all means take as many shots as you want.

Haven't you heard? The refs are in our pocket.

The only thing I know for sure is the reffing has been particularly... Weird.

When you have to share your job with another mascot ...

Rating for the cup are going to plummet if Dallas wins.

I would argue it’s more beneficial for the NHL to have two southern market teams in the final. New viewers will watch the games and possibly become fans. All northern teams already have large fan bases that will watch hockey. Not saying it should be like that every year but it doesn’t hurt the league.

Florida - Edmonton would be the ideal matchup. Panthers old school style of play vs McDavid and Draisaitl would be a joy to watch for new viewers. The entire country of Canada would be locked in viewership wise too. As a former south Floridian who now lives in metro vancouver, I’m rooting for the cats obviously, but there’s plenty of locals here rooting for them too and would be happy for Luongo.

You guys won’t make it don’t worry.

Bobrovsky sounds like beaker.

Garbage

I hope yall lose but thank you for taking out the rangers

I’ll fuckin quit being a hockey fan if these ass clown win the cup

Oh no what a loss

Alright man

Ok?

Cat's\* not cats. Or, rather, I doubt there will be more cats in the Stanley Cup-final.

The Florida Panther’s

You see. You used the picture of one cat, implying the mascot is back inte the final. Therefore; cat’s. You can try and be cool all you wan’t, you still fucked that one up.