Wearing a white Florida Panthers jersey, Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel made a special appearance at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
McDaniel led the Panthers’ pregame festivities by banging the drum and encouraging the sellout crowd to chant “Let’s go Panthers!” ahead of the puck drop. It went about as you’d expect.
Miami Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel bangs the drum for the Florida Panthers ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. 🏈🏒🥁 pic.twitter.com/GFzh4TjopK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 9, 2024
— Bally Sports Florida: Panthers (@BallyPanthers) June 9, 2024
McDaniel’s pregame efforts appeared to pay off, as the Panthers scored first on a goal by center Carter Verhaeghe just four minutes into the game. They scored again two minutes into the second period for a 2–0 lead when center Evan Rodrigues lit the lamp for his fourth goal of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
Game 1 wasn’t McDaniel’s first time banging the drum at Amerant Bank Arena. He also did it last May before the Panthers’ Game 4 matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final—which they won 4–3 to advance to the 2023 Stanley Cup final.
McDaniel will be able to enjoy the rest of the Panthers’ Stanley Cup run, as his Dolphins wrapped up organized team activities and mandatory minicamp last week.
The Florida Panthers are once again making a deep run in the NHL playoffs in 2024, continuing the franchise's chase for its first Stanley Cup title.
Florida was established as an NHL expansion franchise in 1993 and made its first playoff appearance in '96. Over 30 seasons, the Panthers have made 10 playoff appearances—including their current streak of five straight seasons—and have won nine postseason series as they battle the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Panthers advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in two of those 10 playoff appearances in 1996 and 2023, coming up just short of hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup both times. Here's a look back at the Panthers' two runs to the Stanley Cup Final:
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Avalanche 3, Panthers 1
Game 2
Avalanche 8, Panthers 1
Game 3
Avalanche 3, Panthers 2
Game 4
Avalanche 1, Panthers 0
The 1995–96 Panthers made the most of their first playoff appearance in franchise history, defeating the Boston Bruins in five games, the Philadelphia Flyers in six and the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven for a chance to play on hockey's biggest stage.
The 1996 Stanley Cup Final featured a matchup between two franchises attempting to win their first league title, as the Colorado Avalanche battled through the Western Conference bracket. The 1995–96 campaign was the Avalanche's first in Colorado, as the franchise formerly known as the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver after the 1994–95 season.
The series was all Colorado from the start. Goaltender Patrick Roy stopped 147 of the 151 shots he faced, and Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic tallied five points apiece as the Avalanche swept Florida in four games.
The Panthers wouldn't make another appearance in the Stanley Cup Final until nearly 30 years later in 2023.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Golden Knights 5, Panthers 2
Game 2
Golden Knights 7, Panthers 2
Game 3
Panthers 3, Golden Knights 2 (OT)
Game 4
Golden Knights 3, Panthers 2
Game 5
Golden Knights 9, Panthers 3
The Panthers' run through the 2023 playoffs was quite a roller coaster. As the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, Florida found itself trailing the Boston Bruins 3–1 in the opening round but battled back to win the last three games of the series 4–3, 7–5 and 4–3 to advance. Florida defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games and swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.
Florida's momentum stopped against Vegas, however. Golden Knights forward Mark Stone scored a series-high five goals and Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP after tallying eight points (four goals, four assists) in the Stanley Cup Final.
After making the playoffs for three straight years from 2019 to '22 and winning the Presidents' Trophy in the 2021–22 campaign, the Panthers reconstructed their roster and traded top scorer Jonathan Huberdeau and three other assets to the Ottawa Senators for Matthew Tkachuk. The gamble paid off, as Tkachuk led them back to the Stanley Cup Final, but a championship still proved to be illusive for the franchise that calls Sunrise, Fla., home.
New York Rangers coach Peter Laviolette had his in-game interview with ESPN's Emily Kaplan upstaged by a shirtless Florida Panthers fan during his team's season-ending, 2–1 loss to Florida at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday night.
While there likely weren't many things making him laugh on Saturday night, Laviolette couldn't help but chuckle as the young Panthers fan flexed his biceps in the background, making it nearly impossible for any viewers to focus on the interview.
"How about this guy behind us?" Laviolette said with a laugh.
"He likes the interview more than you do," Kaplan, perfectly playing off of the situation, replied.
Here's the funny moment, courtesy of Bleacher Report's account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The shirtless kid behind the Rangers bench is back, and Lavi chirped him on TV 😂 pic.twitter.com/619OkgZLhN
Laviolette proceeded to conduct the interview, as the young Panthers fan continued to go full muscleman in the background.
Then, after the interview was finished, the Rangers coach bumped the glass in front of the young fan before walking back to the bench.
Unfortunately for Laviolette, the flexing fan was the one who went home happy, as the Panthers advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, where they will await the winner of the Dallas Stars-Edmonton Oilers conference finals series, which Edmonton currently leads 3-2.
The NHL's Florida Panthers and NFL's Carolina Panthers came into existence around the same time—the teams began play in 1993 and 1995, respectively—but they sit at opposite ends of the success spectrum in 2024.
The hockey Panthers, after Saturday’s Game 1 victory, are three wins away from their first Stanley Cup title. The football Panthers are licking their wounds after a 2–15 season, their worst since going 1–15 in 2001.
However, differences in fortunes have never stopped some sports fans from mistaking the two teams for each other. It happened again Saturday in Los Angeles, when KABC-TV put up a graphic depicting the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Panthers meeting in the Stanley Cup finals.
KABC in Los Angeles was getting viewers ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and -- Carolina Panthers? pic.twitter.com/asevhg8ZmC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 9, 2024
Credit to the anchor here for proceeding as if nothing was amiss—gamely avoiding the urge to throw whoever handled the graphic under the bus.
Interestingly, the Oilers' last trip to the Stanley Cup finals saw them meet the Carolina Hurricanes, to whom they lost the 2006 championship series four games to three.
