SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Bill Zito didn't do any significant celebrating after the Florida Panthers clinched their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final. He got some food and went back to work.
At this point, no one around the team would expect anything different.
The franchise that could not win a playoff series for a quarter-century now is in the midst of a back-to-back-to-back run to the NHL's championship round. Florida won 25 playoff games in its first 28 seasons combined; the Panthers have won 41 playoff games — and counting — in their most recent three seasons.
The novelty of winning at this time of year hasn't worn off, but the Panthers have simply become used to it now. The main thing — the Cup — is the main thing. That's why after the most recent win, beating Carolina on Wednesday night to finish off the Eastern Conference title in five games, there were no helmets being thrown in the air, no raucous beer-spraying locker room scene, no thick wafts of cigar smoke. A few handshakes, something to eat, and that was it.
“I think everybody likes it right when people are kind to you and say things that are nice," Zito, the team's hockey operations president and general manager, said before the Panthers flew home from Carolina on Thursday. "But we learned. The journey isn’t over and there’s work to do and we have to be focused on that and keep your eye on the goal. Don’t let success get in your way.”
To be fair, for the Panthers, this is unprecedented levels of success.
They have now played 11 playoff series since the start of the 2023 postseason — their first one with Matthew Tkachuk in a Florida sweater. They have won 10 of those series, only falling in the 2023 final to Vegas. They're 41-21 in playoff games under coach Paul Maurice and actually have a better road record in those games (23-10) than they do at home (18-11).
“I didn’t even think about it," Tkachuk said after the Carolina series ended. "Just reacted how I reacted. I mean, I think it was different a few years ago. I remember a few years ago it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point. I know we talked about it last year. It’s part of the journey. And same way with this year. It’s all business, and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.”
When the East title series ended, Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour paid the Panthers — who won their first Cup last season — the ultimate compliment.
"They’re the standard now," Brind'Amour said.
It has been a long time since the league has seen a run like this.
Tampa Bay made three straight finals from 2020 through 2022 (with two of those seasons shortened by COVID), but no team — until now — has navigated three consecutive full regular seasons and gotten to the Stanley Cup Final in each of those years since Edmonton from 1983 through 1985. By the time this year's title series is over, the Panthers will have played more games in a three-year span than any team in NHL history.
It's an accomplishment, for certain. Zito wasn't thinking about any of that after the Carolina series. There were travel plans to put together, reports to look at, somewhere between four and seven more games left in this season to think about.
”I don’t think that the elation or the appreciation for the moment diminishes," Zito said. "I think perhaps the way it manifests itself, it’s just channeled differently. ... That level of respect and appreciation for where you are, in tandem with the hunger, you want to do it again. You want to do it again. What can we start doing now? Don’t stop. Don’t get content. And those guys, they woke up with 100 texts each from everyone telling them how great they are. Everyone did. And it’s not over.”
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
