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06/18/25 05:01:00
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06/18 05:00 CDT 'A well-oiled machine': How the Florida Panthers' team-first
mentality led to another Stanley Cup
'A well-oiled machine': How the Florida Panthers' team-first mentality led to
another Stanley Cup
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) --- Aleksander Barkov hoisted the Stanley Cup, skated with
it for a few moments and then handed it to a grinning Nate Schmidt, in his
first year with the Florida Panthers and raising hockey's hallowed trophy for
the first time. Before any repeat winner touched it, every Panther who never
had before got the chance.
"There's a lot of guys they play a ton of minutes that are huge contributors to
this group, and they bypassed them and said: ?We had it last year. We'll never
not cherish this moment,'" Schmidt said. "It was amazing."
It also personified the Panthers, who did not have the best player in the
final, not facing Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers again. They may not
have even had the second-best with Leon Draisaitl there, too, but Florida
repeating as champions showed exactly why hockey is the ultimate team sport.
"We just have so much heart, so much talent: Heart meets talent," said winger
Matthew Tkachuk, who played through a sports hernia and torn adductor muscle.
"Our team was a team. When things were getting hard for them, they looked to
one guy. But our team, we do it collectively."
The Panthers had 19 non-goalies on the ice over six games against the Oilers;
15 registered a point and 11 scored at least once. Coach Paul Maurice said the
team is "just really deep --- unusually so," making the point that he
essentially had three first lines to roll out at any given time.
"A very talented group of guys, so when you bring somebody in, we're going to
play you with a really good player," Maurice said.
General manager Bill Zito, who inherited Barkov, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and
goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, built the rest of the roster to win in the
playoffs. With Maurice and his staff in charge, players who were adrift or
simply mediocre elsewhere thrived in Florida.
"For the most part, every guy who's come here has had the best season of their
careers," Zito said. "From that perspective, it's gratifying to think that we
can create an environment where the guys can do that, but it's the team. It's
that room. It truly is."
Fourth-liner A.J. Greer is one of those players after nearly giving up on his
NHL dream a few years ago. He, Zito, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett and
so many others use the word "culture" to explain the Panthers' greatness, and
it translates into results on the ice. The forecheck is never-ending, the
harassment in the neutral zone relentless --- and the offense burgeoning with
talent.
"Everyone levels their game up here --- every one of us," Greer said. "There's
a sentiment of greatness but of just like wanting to be as good as you were
yesterday."
Tkachuk, acquired by Zito in a trade from Calgary in the same summer of 2022
when Maurice was hired as coach, shook his head when asked about scoring the
Cup-clinching goal in Game 6. He wanted to make a point that it doesn't matter
who scores.
"I don't care about personal stats," Tkachuk said. "I don't care. Our team
doesn't (care) about that. That's what makes us a team, and that's why we're
lifting the Stanley Cup right now because we're a team and not a bunch of
individuals."
McDavid, who had seven points in six games in the final, had nothing but praise
after a second straight loss to the Panthers on the NHL's biggest stage.
"They're a really good team," McDavid said. "Very deserving. They were really
good."
Florida was in the final for a third consecutive year, and the only loss during
this stretch came to Vegas in 2023 when injuries ravaged Tkachuk, Ekblad and
others. That was the start of the winning blueprint that has made the Panthers
so successful for so long.
"There's a way that we do things here, and it's not easy," said Bennett, who
led all players in the playoffs with 15 goals. "We don't play an easy style of
hockey. It demands a lot of you. Every single guy's bought into it. When some
new guys came in, they instantly bought into what we do here and the commitment
to being great, to winning. Every single guy just really bought into that."
Schmidt found that out quickly. He played for Maurice in Winnipeg, got bought
out last summer and just wanted to get his game back. That happened quickly,
and the Stanley Cup was the reward after going through another long grind as a
team.
"It's the system. It's the group. It's just completely selfless," Schmidt said.
"Guys just play one way, and they say, ?Hey, this is how we do things' and
you've got to jump on board. Guys, once they mold themselves into the game, you
just become another cog in the wheel here. That's just the way it runs. It's
just a well-oiled machine."
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and
https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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