A Running Document of Notes for All Teams as They Clinch a Berth in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs
#NHLStats about the Florida Panthers, who are headed to the postseason for a third straight year and eighth time in franchise history. Florida became the first team to clinch a spot in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs by defeating Buffalo on April 3.
1. The Panthers have reached the postseason in three straight campaigns for the first time in franchise history. Florida will aim for its first series victory since the 1996 Eastern Conference Final, a seven-game affair that saw the Panthers (in their third NHL season) eliminate a Penguins team that had won two of the previous five Stanley Cup championships and included Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Sergei Zubov.
2. Jonathan Huberdeau (4-12—16 in 16 GP) is the franchise leader in playoff assists, with eight of those coming in the 2021 First Round against the Lightning. He finished that series with 2-8—10 – collected across four multi-point games (Game 1, Games 3-5) – to establish Panthers benchmarks for assists and points in a single series. Huberdeau needs one point to surpass Stu Barnes and tie Dave Lowry for second place in franchise playoff history; two points will tie him with Ray Sheppard for the most by a Panthers player.
3. Aleksander Barkov (Tampere, Finland), who ranks fifth on the Panthers’ playoff points list, can become the first Finnish-born captain in NHL history to guide his team to a Stanley Cup. Nicklas Lidstrom (Vasteras, Sweden; 2008 DET), Zdeno Chara (Trencin, Slovakia; 2011 BOS) and Alex Ovechkin (Moscow, Russia; 2018 WSH) are the only non-North American players to captain a Cup winner. Barkov posted a five-game point streak in the 2021 First Round, tied for the second longest in club playoff history.
4. Joe Thornton is one of two players in League history to skate at least 1,700 career regular-season games without winning a Stanley Cup (also Patrick Marleau: 1,779 GP). To date, the two highest game-played counts before hoisting the Cup are 1,612 (Ray Bourque; 2001 COL) and 1,597 (Dave Andreychuk; 2004 TBL).
5. Claude Giroux (25-48—73 in 85 GP) owns the second-most career playoff points among members of the Panthers’ active roster, behind Joe Thornton (32-102—134 in 186 GP). They are two of 21 active players with at least 1,000 regular-season games but no Stanley Cup. Giroux is one of three different players in NHL history to record at least six points in a road playoff game (Game 2 of 2012 CQF at PIT), following Wayne Gretzky (2x) and Rick Middleton.
6. One of two Stanley Cup winners on Florida’s roster, Patric Hornqvist claimed back-to-back championships with the Penguins – first going head-to-head with Joe Thornton in the 2016 Final and then scoring the Cup-clinching goal in the 2017 Final. Selected by the Predators with the last pick of the 2005 NHL Draft, Hornqvist became the second player in NHL history to score a Cup-clinching goal against the team that drafted him (also Rick MacLeish in 1974 w/ PHI, vs. BOS).
7. Carter Verhaeghe (2020 TBL) can become the eighth player in NHL history to win at least one Stanley Cup with multiple teams based in the same U.S. state or Canadian province. Only two players have done so in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68): Greg Gilbert (1982 NYI, 1983 NYI & 1994 NYR) and Dustin Penner (2007 ANA & 2012 LAK).
8. Overall, the Panthers roster includes six players who have skated in the Stanley Cup Final (Patric Hornqvist, NoelAcciari, Joe Thornton, Claude Giroux, Ben Chiarot & Carter Verhaeghe). On the flipside, it also features one of four active players with at least 500 career regular-season games who has yet to make a playoff appearance: Sam Reinhart, an offseason acquisition now in the midst of a career-best campaign (the others: Jeff Skinner, Rasmus Ristolainen and Zemgus Girgensons; Nicolas Deslauriers can bring that list to five).
9. The Panthers will look to become the eighth team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup after making a head coach change in-season, a feat that four of the past 13 champions have achieved (2019 STL, 2016 PIT, 2012 LAK, 2009 PIT, 2000 NJD, 1971 MTL & 1932 TOR).
10. Florida will aim to halt a run of seven consecutive postseason series defeats that dates to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, tied with Toronto (2004 CSF to 2021 R1) for the longest active run of consecutive postseason series losses. The 26 years since Florida’s last series win marks the longest such drought by a franchise in NHL history.
* CLICK HERE for NHL.com’s breakdown of the Panthers’ clinch, including MVP, unsung hero and memorable moment of the season.
