Unsung Game 7 Hero Kevin Stenlund to Make Florida Return

Kevin Stenlund will return to South Florida with the Utah Hockey Club to face the Florida Panthers for the first time since his Game 7 penalty kill heroics.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Kevin Stenlund might not get as much fanfare Brandon Montour or Ryan Lomberg did when they returned to Sunrise for the first time since lifting the Stanley Cup, but he may very well be one of the most important pieces of that championship team.

Stenlund’s lasting moment with the Panthers came early in the second period of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Gustav Forsling’s stick broke early on during an Edmonton Oilers power play and Stenlund handed his over and went to work.

For the next minute and 30 seconds, Stenlund dove into passing lanes, blocked shots and did all he could to help Florida survive Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the dominant Oilers power play in what ended up being a pivotal moment of the game.

“Just get off the ice, man,” coach Paul Maurice said. “We got to figure out a way to get him off. He’s got no stick, he’s got no lungs left, but that was all part of the stories, right?”

Sam Reinhart scored what ended up being the game-winning goal 10 minutes later, and after a grinder of a third period, the rest was history,

“It was crazy,” Eetu Luostarinen told PucksAndPalms.com “I didn’t remember it that well, but against that power play. That was a huge shift.”

Stenlund rightfully earned the trust to be able to be out there in that moment — even if things did not start off that way.

“I remember when he made a backhand pass in the defensive zone early in the year to Connor Bedard,” Maurice said. “Bedard picked it up and went bar down. And that must have gotten shown 100,000 times. It was Connor Bedard. He just got in the league, he was scored goals and he was all over every video clip for months.

“We laugh about it, but it can’t help but bother you. And then in the end, for him to have the game that he did [was special.]”

From that game on, the Panthers had the fifth-best penalty kill in the league (83.7 percent) after a rocky start to the season and Stenlund was a big reason why.

Stenlund and Luostarinen were the first two forwards off the bench for the majority of the season. He ranked second in the entire league in shorthanded time-on-ice among forwards (218:22).

In the postseason, Stenlund was the lone constant Florida’s ever-changing fourth line — with wingers Kyle Okposo, Nick Cousins, Ryan Lomberg and Steven Lorentz cycling in and out of the lineup — and he defined the culture of that line: A heavy, relentless forecheck and a line that can hold up in its own end.

“That line was so important for us in Game 7,” Maurice said. “Okposo was heavy on that line, he was heavy on that line. Those two big men. And he was the right-handed center on the penalty kill that was a critical piece. I think our penalty kill was the driving force behind last year’s success, and he was the first guy over the bench on the right side.”