{"id":257593,"date":"2026-05-04T11:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257593\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T11:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:39:13","slug":"no-florida-panthers-or-tampa-bay-lightning-in-stanley-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257593\/","title":{"rendered":"No Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning in Stanley Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you cheer for the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Florida Panthers, this has been a pretty good decade to be a hockey fan in the Sunshine State. <\/p>\n<p>From 2020 until 2025, one of the two Florida teams played for the Stanley Cup at the end of the playoffs. <\/p>\n<p>The Lightning won hockey\u2019s ultimate prize in 2020 and 2021; the Panthers won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2024 and then repeated as champions in 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Coming into this season, either the Lightning or Panthers had played in the past six Stanley Cup Finals. Tampa Bay lost to Colorado in 2022 to end its three-peat bid, with the Panthers going to the Final for just the second time in their history in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Florida lost that Final to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, but certainly bounced back by beating the Edmonton Oilers the next two seasons. <\/p>\n<p>Alas, that run has come to a close. <\/p>\n<p>The Stanley Cup will not be spending another muggy summer in Florida. <\/p>\n<p>The Panthers did not make the playoffs in what turned out to be an injury plagued season; the Lightning were knocked out of the first round for the fourth straight postseason on Sunday night <a href=\"https:\/\/floridahockeynow.com\/thunder-struck-canadiens-beat-lightning-in-game-7-with-dobes-leading-the-way\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/floridahockeynow.com\/thunder-struck-canadiens-beat-lightning-in-game-7-with-dobes-leading-the-way\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">when it lost 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> in Game 7.<\/p>\n<p>No, this summer, the NHL\u2019s traveling party will be spending June somewhere else than Florida. <\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it will be in Buffalo, maybe Montreal or Raleigh. Perhaps even Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, it will not be here. <\/p>\n<p>Not this summer. <\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s OK. <\/p>\n<p>Just look how far things have come.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1120\" height=\"747\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/NHL-Stanley-Cup-Final-Edmonton-Oilers-at-Florida-Panthers-26481322.jpg\" alt=\"NHL: Stanley Cup Final-Edmonton Oilers at Florida Panthers\" class=\"wp-image-18959\"  \/>The Florida Panthers celebrate the 2025 Stanley Cup championship, the team\u2019s second straight title, in Sunrise.Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>The 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the eventual champion St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins was the last championship round without a team from Florida.<\/p>\n<p>The Lightning were Presidents\u2019 Trophy winners that year \u2014 only got swept by Sergei Bobrovsky and the Columbus Blue Jackets in Round 1. <\/p>\n<p>The Panthers didn\u2019t even make it to the playoffs in 2019, but the tide seemed to be turning for the franchise when Vinnie Viola opened his checkbook wider than any other Panthers owner by signing Cup championship coach Joel Quenneville to a very lucrative deal \u2014 then going hard after Bobrovsky and pal Artemi Panarin. <\/p>\n<p>Panarin decided he wanted to play in New York, but the Panthers landed Bobrovsky with the largest contract (seven years, $70 million) the team had previously ever handed out. <\/p>\n<p>Life, as we knew it, would change in 2020 when the world was shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n<p>After a long way away from the game, the NHL resumed with \u2018bubbles\u2019 in Toronto and Edmonton \u2014 with the Lightning beating the Dallas Stars for its first Stanley Cup championship since 2004. <\/p>\n<p>The Panthers would have to wait a few more years to get their chance. <\/p>\n<p>But they got it, and are ready to make another run at the Cup next season. <\/p>\n<p>Hey, seven out of eight years for hockey in Florida would still be pretty good.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1120\" height=\"747\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/NHL-Florida-Panthers-Stanley-Cup-Championship-Parade-23655814.jpg\" alt=\"NHL: Florida Panthers - Stanley Cup Championship Parade\" class=\"wp-image-19094\"  \/>Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice celebrates the 2024 Stanley Cup championship with his team and at least six fans on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">LOOKING BACK AT 2019<\/p>\n<p>Top Rated TV Show:\u00a0The Big Bang Theory<\/p>\n<p>Top Box Office Movie:\u00a0Avengers: End Game<\/p>\n<p>Billboard Top 100:\u00a0Old Town Road\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Lil Nas X\u00a0featuring\u00a0\u00a0Billy Ray Cyrus<\/p>\n<p>Gas Price:\u00a0$2.72<\/p>\n<p>Notable Sports Moments: Tiger Woods\u00a0wins the Masters; U.S. wins Women\u2019s World Cup<\/p>\n<p>Stanley Cup Champions:\u00a0St. Louis Blues<\/p>\n<p>Super Bowl Champions:\u00a0New England Patriots<\/p>\n<p>World Series Champions:\u00a0Washington Nationals<\/p>\n<p>NBA Champions:\u00a0Toronto Raptors<\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Lightning:\u00a0Swept in Round 1 by\u00a0Sergei Bobrovsky\u00a0and the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/p>\n<p>Florida Panthers:\u00a0Missed playoffs; hired\u00a0Joel Quenneville, signed Bobrovsky<\/p>\n<p>ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS\u00a0OFFSEASON<\/p>\n<p>NHL Draft Lottery:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/floridahockeynow.com\/florida-panthers-get-help-keep-2026-first-round-draft-pick\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tuesday; Secaucus, NJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NHL Draft:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/sabres\/news\/buffalo-sabres-to-host-2026-nhl-draft\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NHL Free Agency:\u00a0Opens July 1<\/p>\n<p>Panthers Development Camp:\u00a0Late June\/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale<\/p>\n<p>Panthers Rookie Camp\/Tournament:\u00a0Late August\/Early Sept.; Site TBA<\/p>\n<p>Panthers Training Camp:\u00a0Early\/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>2026-27 NHL Season Opens:\u00a0Late September; Site, Opponent TBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether you cheer for the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Florida Panthers, this has been a pretty good&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16995,6503,104561,135,862,137,136],"class_list":["post-257593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-florida-panthers","tag-stanley-cup","tag-stanley-cup-champions","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}