Sam Bennett was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The forward was voted the winner after he helped the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive season with a 5-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Tuesday.
“It’s hard to describe,” Bennett said of winning the Stanley Cup. “This is way harder than I thought it would be, to win and to win twice. We put in so much work for this and I’m so proud of this group. It’s incredible the team we have here, I’m so proud of all the guys and it’s the best feeling in the world. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
Bennett led the NHL this postseason with 15 goals, including five in the Cup Final. He’s the fourth active player to score at least 15 goals in a single postseason, joining Oilers forward Zach Hyman (16 in 2024), Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (15 in 2018), and Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (15 in 2009).
Bennett also set the NHL record for the most road goals in a single postseason (13). He extended his road goal streak to six games in a 5-2 win against the Oilers in Game 5 on Saturday, becoming the fifth player in League history to have a run of at least that length.
“We’re such a tight group and you spend so much time together on the road,” Bennett said. “I think that has us so close and spending so much time together, we just love each other as a group.”
Bennett, who will turn 29 on Friday, finished this postseason with 22 points (15 goals, seven assists) in 23 games, which was tied for fourth on the Panthers. He had 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 19 playoff games last season to help Florida win the Cup for the first time in its history.
Bennett, who had an NHL career-high 51 points (25 goals, 26 assists) in 76 regular-season games, is in the final season of a four-year contract he signed with the Panthers on July 26, 2021, and can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Bennett is the first player in Panthers history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. Last season, when Florida defeated Edmonton in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final, Oilers captain Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy, becoming the sixth player to win the award from the losing team.
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