If Panthers fans thought their Florida hockey neighbors would be on their side tonight, they would be wrong.
No matter how Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final ends Monday night, history will be made. And Tampa Bay Lightning fans are hoping the Florida Panthers fall on the wrong side of it.
Throughout the Stanley Cup Final, Lightning fans have taken to social media to express their distaste for the Panthers, filling social platforms with photos of the Panthers logo adorning a white “truce” flag and mocking the franchise as the “Florida kitty-cats.” They altogether have been enjoying the Panthers’ inability to close out the finals against the Edmonton Oilers in a series that once looked over and done with.
“For me being a Tampa fan has excited the rivalry with the Panthers,” said Robbie Nash. “So while, yes, they are our neighbors, I would rather see the Oilers come out on top. It’s the rivalry between teams.
“They’re like Tampa’s little brother. You like them but not really.”
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A few fans mentioned what Lightning supporter Elle Schwandt called “the Corey Perry redemption story,” adding that she went crazy when the former Tampa Bay winger scored on the power play in Game 5.
Some, like Eric Matthew, are cheering for the Oilers because of a personal attachment to a player or coach in Edmonton’s organization.
Matthew grew up in Pittsburgh, cheering for the Penguins and Lightning. And though friends suggested he declare his allegiance to one team, he has reasons to like both.
“I grew up in Pittsburgh during the Paul Coffey era,” Matthew said. “With Paul Coffey being an assistant coach for the Edmonton Oilers — he won four Stanley Cups with the Oilers in the 80s, and now he’s behind the bench about to win his first Cup as a coach. I’ve met Paul Coffey at numerous Penguin alumni events, and this organization has been building for years.”
Matthew said he can’t root for the Panthers because of the fierce rivalry with the Bolts.
“That would be like us in Pittsburgh rooting for the (Philadelphia) Flyers or the Cleveland Browns with the Cincinnati Bengals,” he said. “It just doesn’t happen that way.”
That pattern seems to have taken hold in the Tampa Bay area, where fans would much rather see the Panthers hanging out to dry than the Cup hoisted in their own state if it’s the Panthers vying to do it.
“At the beginning, I didn’t know which team to root for,” Lightning fan Michelle Gordon said. “I like the idea of the Cup being in Florida — and especially keeping it away from Canada for yet another year! But it’s the Panthers and they are our rivals, so I was torn. But now, the idea of our rivals going down in history as epic chokers? It’s just so beautiful, and it’s put me all in for Edmonton. Let’s go, Oilers.”
Some Tampa Bay fans have developed distaste for the way the Panthers play, calling their rivals “dirty” and “arrogant.”
Some Lightning fans see the Panthers as ‘bullies’
Lightning fan Kim Stoddard Halcyon-Clancy even went as far as to call the Panthers ” a team full of Bullies for years.”
Like some of her fellow fans, Lightning fan Martha Howes pulled no punches in expressing why she wants the Oilers to come out on top, including Panthers fans in her scrutiny.
“Can’t root for your biggest division rival,” she said. “And on top of that, I think their fans are disrespectful, and they play dirty hockey. Let’s go Edmonton.”
Though the Panthers may have the “Florida” tag, as opposed to most National Hockey League teams with names of cities, some Lightning fans see their team – which has won the Stanley Cup three times – as better representatives for being a go-to team in Florida.
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“The Florida Kitty Cats play dirty; that’s the reason I wouldn’t root for them,” said Lightning fan Kristin Maldonado. “They always played dirty. Look, I like (goalie Sergei Bobrovsky) but don’t like the whole team. I root for teams that play sensible and deserve to win. I am a Bolts fan through and through. The way I see it, Bolts are the team of the state of Florida.”
Perhaps some of the ire stems from the Panthers knocking the Lightning out of Stanley-Cup contention in the first round of the NHL playoffs this season. That was the first time they beat their state rivals in the playoffs.
Regardless, it seems the Oilers have an unlikely ally in the Lightning fan-base.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lightning fans rooting for Oilers, not Panthers, in Stanley Cup Game 7