2023-05-25 03:17:12
The Florida Panthers continued the recent tradition by touching the Prince of Wales Trophy.
NHL Senior Vice President of Marketing Brian Jennings presented the trophy to the captain Alexander Barkov following the 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Fla. on Wednesday. Barkov and his teammates posed for photos with the trophy before he carried it to the locker room.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning, who have won the trophy in each of the last three seasons, have touched it every time, but they were defeated in the Finals by the Colorado Avalanche in six games last season. Previously, Jon Cooper’s squad won the Stanley Cup once morest the Dallas Stars in 2020 and once morest the Montreal Canadiens in 2021.
In 1996, the only other time the Panthers won the Prince of Wales Trophy, captain Brian Skrudland lifted the trophy. The Panthers were then swept by the Avalanche in the final.
Five of the last seven teams to win the Cup have touched the Prince of Wales Trophy. Before 2020, Sidney Crosby touched him in 2016 and 2017, then he helped the Pittsburgh Penguins lift the Cup both times. Alex Ovechkin did the same in 2018 with the Washington Capitals, who went on to be crowned champions.
The tradition of not touching the Prince of Wales Trophy has not served Eastern Conference teams well recently. The 2011 Boston Bruins were the last team to win the Cup following choosing not to touch it. The last five teams to have imitated them lost in the final.
Video: The Panthers receive the Prince of Wales trophy
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara didn’t touch the trophy in 2019, and Boston lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games in the Finals. The New Jersey Devils (2012), Bruins (2013), New York Rangers (2014) and Lightning (2015) all suffered the same fate following refusing to get their hands on the trophy.
Due to the temporary realignment of sections due to COVID-19 in 2020-21, the third round of the playoffs has been renamed a semi-final rather than the conference final. The Prince of Wales Trophy was presented to the Lightning following defeating the New York Islanders in the semi-finals.
The Prince of Wales Trophy has been awarded to Eastern Champions since the 1993-94 season.
Florida will face either the Vegas Golden Knights or the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Finals. Vegas leads this series 3-0 and might advance to the final with a win in Game 4 on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, CBC, SN, ESPN, ESPN+).
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