SUNRISE — They came sprinting off the bench like kids out for recess, yelling, hugging, throwing gloves and sticks in the air and all emotions up for grabs while all this warm, wonderful noise accompanied their opening view atop the mountain.
They did it. Again.
The Florida Panthers really won it all. Again.
The franchise that once couldn’t get out of its own way, that gave away tickets to games, that went a quarter-century without winning a playoff series — that sad-sack franchise is now toast of sports after they celebrated their second straight Stanley Cup championship.
They didn’t just do it, again, in winning Game 6 5-1 and taking this best-of-seven series 4-2.
They dominated it. They controlled it. They took everything a good Edmonton team had Tuesday and took over the last night in the season, right from the opening minutes, when Sam Reinhart picked up a loose puck, treated defenseman Mattias Ekholm like a prop and then scored as he was sent spinning to the ice.
When Matthew Tkachuk scored in the last minute of the first period to make it 2-0, you could feel it happening in Amerant Bank Arena.
When Aleksander Barkov banked a pass off Sam Reinhart’s skate to make it 3-0 in the second period, the only nagging concern was the Panthers had lost a 3-0 lead already this series.
But there was no letdown this time, not on this night of nights. They’d learned too much, been through so much. Coach Paul Maurice was asked earlier Tuesday how it felt waking up knowing his team could win the Stanley Cup.
“I think you asked me that four times last year,” Maurice said of the Panthers leading Edmonton last spring, 3-0, before losing three games and winning Game 7.
As the third period went on, as Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky turned away every shot, the crowd sensed what was coming — what they came to see this night.
“We want the Cup!” the chants began.
Edmonton’s last hope was to pull its goalie with under seven minutes to go for an extra attacker. Barkov passed again to Reinhart, who scored his third of the game. Reinhart scored the Cup-winning goal last spring against Edmonton.
Now fans were throwing hats on the ice to honor his hat trick as teammates hugged him. He threw a fist in the air. He wasn’t done.
He added a fourth goal, another empty-netter, just for fun with just over five minutes left to make it 5-0.
The fans became part of the night now. They savored the night and drank from the Cup, if only metaphorically, because this is the first time back-to-back championships have been celebrated at home for any South Florida team.
This is a fan base built from nearly nothing with the kind of success in recent years that rivals the greatest South Florida teams ever. The Miami Dolphins went to three straight Super Bowls, winning two, from 1971 to 1973. The Miami Heat went to four straight NBA Finals, winning two, from 2010 to 2014.
That’s the rare air these Panthers now reside. This Mount Rushmore of local greatness can’t even fill out the card. Their full spring explained even after the first-round series Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper, a two-time Cup winner himself, called the Panthers, “An exceptional team. Not just average, an exceptional team.”
They don’t need numbers to back up anything, but they back up everything right through this last game. The Panthers had the best offense in the playoffs in scoring the most goals and the best defense in yielding the fewest per game. 2.5 goals per game.
They had the best postseason penalty kill (and sixth-best power play). So, their special teams were special, too.
Edmonton was fiddling with who to start in goal, Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard, and right down the lineup across this series. The Panthers’ lineup was set. They knew their team. And what a team, too.
Bennett’s 15 goals led the NHL these playoffs, and Brad Marchand’s 10 tied for third. Bobrovsky tied for the lead with three shutouts and gave the Panthers the second-highest save percentage.
Barkov didn’t have a goal in the final. But he played his role. He helped hold Edmonton star Connor McDavid to one goal.
And depth? Did you see all four lines rolling out every game? They’re the first team where nine players had at least 15 playoff points since the 1980s New York Islanders teams.
Bill Torrey, the original Panthers team president, was the architect of that Islanders dynasty and was asked back when they got the second Cup in 1981 what the Panthers had to consider now: Was the second title was greater than the first?
“You’re damn right it is,’’ Torrey said.
The Panthers have been to three consecutive finals, winning two. So, they’re in the sports conversation that invokes the rarest of words: Dynasty.
That’s up ahead. This was a team that always talked of living in the moment no matter the situation. So, give them their moment. Give them this first night of a full summer of celebration.
The Panthers did it again. They really won it all again.