The Stanley Cup is arguably the greatest trophy in all of sports. It's definitely one of the hardest to earn. A franchise must win 16 games across four different best-of-seven playoff series for the honor of being crowned champions of the National Hockey League. The Panthers are closing in.
The Florida Panthers, after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 5 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final on Saturday, are on the verge of becoming the first team since the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 & 2021 to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions.
THE PANTHERS ARE ONE WIN AWAY FROM REPEATING AS #STANLEYCUP CHAMPS 😱
— NHL (@NHL) June 15, 2025
Catch Game 6 of the #StanleyCup Final between the @EdmontonOilers and @FlaPanthers Tuesday, June 17 at 8p ET on @NHL_On_TNT, @SportsonMax, @Sportsnet, and @TVASports! pic.twitter.com/pWlzKLVOE2
If that were to happen, it'd be the third time this century the league will have seen back-to-back champions. The Pittsburgh Penguins also did it in 2016 & 2017.
Complete list of teams to win back-to-back Stanley Cups
The NHL has seen the Stanley Cup lifted by the same team in consecutive years 11 times between 1917-99. But that does not include the five separate instances a franchise won three or more consecutive Stanley Cups in that span.
Florida would become the 10th franchise in league history to repeat as champions. Here's a full list of who did pulled off the feat and when.
Team | Years Winning Consecutive Stanley Cups |
|---|---|
Montreal Canadiens | 1930-31, 1956-60, 1965-66, 1968-69, 1976-79 |
Detroit Red Wings | 1936-37, 1954-55, 1997-98 |
Toronto Maple Leafs | 1947-49, 1962-64 |
Edmonton Oilers | 1984-85, 1987-88 |
Pittsburgh Penguins | 1991-92, 2016-17 |
Ottawa Senators | 1920-21 |
Philadelphia Flyers | 1974-75 |
New York Islanders | 1980-83 |
Tampa Bay Lightning | 2020-21 |
The Montreal Canadiens lead the way with a sizable gap between them and the next closest team, the Detroit Red Wings. They, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Oilers and Penguins are the only five franchises to ever win consecutive Stanley Cups multiple times.
Since the NHL's official inaugural season in 1917, there have been 27 different franchises to claim the Stanley Cup - 22 of which are still active today.
Only twice in that span has the Stanley Cup not been awarded. Once in 1919, when the series between the Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans was cancelled after five games due to the Great Influenza epidemic (also known as the Spanish Flu), and again for the 2004-05 lockout.
Why is it so hard to win back-to-back Stanley Cups?
Winning the Stanley Cup even once is a challenge upon itself. The NHL Playoffs are among the most brutal in sports, forcing players to overcome injury and mental fatigue on a yearly basis. To play that many games in two straight seasons and come out on top is an incredible accomplishment.
Florida returns home to Sunrise for Game 6 on Tuesday where it could close out Edmonton for the second straight year to lift the Stanley Cup. The Oilers-Panthers rematch is just the 12th instance in NHL history two teams have met in the final two years in a row.
Edmonton will be hoping to repeat what it did last year in forcing an winner-take-all Game 7 but change the ending, this time with home ice advantage.