Florida had three consecutive defeats on their back.
But when it mattered, the team and its three Swedes gave it their all. Florida won 2–1 against Edmonton and took home their first Stanley Cup title ever in front of a jubilant home crowd.
Last year, Florida were agonisingly close to a win in NHL ice hockey, but were denied it in the final by Vegas. This year, they got their revenge.
The three Swedes in the team – Gustav Forsling, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Kevin Stenlund – can now celebrate Florida's first championship title ever.
The win came after a nail-biting final series, where Florida, after winning the first three matches, then lost three in a row. In the seventh and decisive match, they took command immediately with a goal barely five minutes into the first period by Carter Verhaeghe.
Swede Mattias Janmark soon equalised for Edmonton's sake, but in the second period, Florida regained the upper hand after Sam Reinhart sent the puck into the net. Goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovskij made 23 saves.
It's not a dream anymore, it's reality, says Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk after the match.
Defender Aaron Ekblad is equally ecstatic.
This is the best moment of my life so far. Nothing can top this.
2024: Florida
2023: Vegas.
2022: Colorado.
2021: Tampa Bay.
2020: Tampa Bay.
2019: St Louis.
2018: Washington.
2017: Pittsburgh.
2016: Pittsburgh.
2015: Chicago.
Florida's three Swedes Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Gustav Forsling, Kevin Stenlund win their first NHL titles with this year's final.
Previous Swedish winners:
Four titles: Stefan Persson, New York Islanders (1980-83), Anders Kallur, do (80-83), Nicklas Lidström, Detroit (97, 98, 02, 08), Tomas Holmström, Detroit (97, 98, 02, 08).
Three titles: Niklas Hjalmarsson, Chicago (10, 13, 15).
Two titles: Tomas Jonsson, NY Islanders (82 and 83), Willy Lindström, Edmonton (84, 85), Ulf Samuelsson, Pittsburgh (91, 92), Peter Forsberg, Colorado (96, 01), Tommy Albelin, New Jersey (95, 03), Johnny Oduya, Chicago (13, 15), Marcus Krüger, do (13, 15), Carl Hagelin, Pittsburgh (16, 17), Patric Hörnqvist, do (16, 17), Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay (20, 21), André Burakovsky, Washington (18) and Colorado (22).
One title: Mats Hallin, NY Islanders (83), Mats Näslund, Montreal (86), Kjell Dahlin, do (86), Kent Nilsson, Edmonton (87), Håkan Loob, Calgary (89), Kjell Samuelsson, Pittsburgh (92), Tomas Sandström, Detroit (97), Anders Eriksson, do (98), Fredrik Olausson, do (02), Fredrik Modin, Tampa Bay (04), Niclas Wallin, Carolina (06), Samuel Påhlsson, Anaheim (07), Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit (08), Johan Franzén, do (08), Niklas Kronwall, do (08), Mikael Samuelsson, do (08), Andreas Lilja, do (08), Viktor Stålberg, Chicago (13), Joakim Nordström, do (15), David Rundblad, do (15), Nicklas Bäckström, Washington (18), Christian Djoos, do (18), Carl Gunnarsson, St Louis (19), Oskar Sundqvist, do (19), Alexander Steen, do (19), Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado (22), William Karlsson, Vegas (23).
