FIRST LIGHT, Fla. (AP) — Ruler of Rules Grant was brought to the ice in timeout, as a field full of Florida Jaguars fans cheered and several players and staff members shared the honor. Presented to introduce. Pick up the pace. Last year, Puma won the prize. This year, they didn't. The message was clear.









 
The Stanley Cup is really the prize they need. For the second year in a row, he was awarded hockey's most prestigious grant. Once again, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots, Sam Bennett and Vladimir Tarasenko scored goals, and the Florida Panthers made it to the final Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win over the New York City Bosses on Saturday night. "We went for it last year and it just didn't work out for us," said Bennett, who was familiar with the Eastern Mets owners, about the honor being overlooked. "So, we assumed we needed to do something different this year."



 The Panthers — who lost the Cup final to Vegas last year — brought home the East title series in six games. Florida will face either Edmonton or Dallas for the Cup, with the series scheduled to begin June 8. Artemi Panarin scored with 1:40 left and Igor Shesterkin stopped 32 shots for the Officials, who had a 2-1 series lead. , at the time, lost three straight, costing their season.

 

It was New York's longest losing streak since mid-January and the 11th consecutive year the group with the NHL's best regular season record would not go on to win the Stanley Cup. "Our guys have been fighting for this ongoing year," expressed Patron of Officials Peter Lovellette. "They bought right in. It's frustrating; when you start something to that effect, you don't do it to get three wins by the end of time or five wins by the end of time. You get that rolling." To do as much as possible." If Edmonton — which leads the West 3-2 in the last — will play Game 1 of the title round on Florida ice. If Dallas wins the West, the Stars will have home-ice advantage for the title series. The Oilers can clinch the series on Sunday. Florida will be playing for the Stanley Cup for the third time



. The Panthers were swept by Colorado in 1996 and lost to Vegas 4-1 last season. It's also the third time for Poms coach Paul Morris, who lost to Carolina in 2002 and Florida last year. Maybe the third time is in the best interest of both of them. "My joy in the game — and this is new to me — is my understanding that I'm not that important here," said Morris, who at 57 is the second-longest tenured coach in any sport. He won his most important Stanley Cup, proposing to become the point. Bruce Cassidy was 58 years old when Vegas gave him his most important title a year ago. "Also, that's what I expect. 


There's a weird line, 'Don't be so mad, you're not too perfect.' It's the players, when they're going, they don't need me." Florida's prosperity means it has now been five consecutive seasons that a team from the Sunshine State has won the Eastern Conference. The Tampa Sound won the Roller of Clothes award in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and are currently back in Florida. The Poms are also the fifteenth NHL powerhouse to win the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons. 



The Pumas also swept the best regular-season meet — the President's Grant Champs — for the second straight year. Last season, Florida shut out Boston in Cycle 1, winning in Game 7. This time, it was the personnel who went to Florida, which Pittsburgh made the necessary groundwork for Washington to secure the No. 1 pick for a very long time. Time in 2016 and 2017. "We understand that it doesn't work.



 Fundamentally," said Mika Zebinezhad, the officials' focal point. "I thought we tried to throw everything we had. It just wasn't enough today." Likewise, for Bobrovsky, taking down No. 1 is clearly his thing. He was in net to beat a top seed for the third time in six years — the Bosses this year, the Bruins last year and Tampa Bay when he was in Columbus in 2019. "We were in that gross area," the officials chief said. Jacob Truba. "We just came up short." Bennett opened the scoring in the final snapshot of the primary time period, passing the puck to Evan Rodriguez, recovering it and firing a shot over Shesterkin's glove into the upper right corner of the net. It was Bennett's third consecutive game with a goal, matching his longest streak at the time and marking the first time he's had such a streak in the postseason.


 BeBennett had a center point near the blueline with about five minutes left in the second period that signaled a rare open door, with Matthew Tkachuk skating down early with only Shesterkin. Shesterkin saved a leg, but Tkachuk had no significant chances from the off