SUNRISE, Fla. – Thunder Bay’s Jamie Kompon is running out of fingers.
The Florida Panthers assistant coach on Tuesday night captured his second straight Stanley Cup championship, the fourth of his illustrious National Hockey League coaching career.
Buoyed by Sam Reinhart four-goal performance in Game 6, the Panthers won the second title in franchise history, knocking off the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 to win the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final 4-2.
A year ago Kompon, who was born in Thunder Bay and grew up in Nipigon, became just the second NHL coach, after the legendary Scotty Bowman, to win the Stanley Cup with three different teams. Bowman turned the trick with Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit, winning a record nine titles over a 35-year coaching career.
Kompon, 58, won his first Cup in 2012 with the Los Angeles Kings and his second the following season with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Reinhart staked the Panthers to a 1-0 lead at 4:36 of the first. Matthew Tkachuk potted his eighth of the playoffs with 24 seconds to go in the opening frame and Reinhart upped Florida’s lead to 3-0 with the only goal of the middle stanza, coming at the 17:31 mark.
Reinhart, the first player to score four goals in a Stanley Cup final since Maurice (Rocket) Richard in 1957, scored a pair into the empty net, with Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner on the bench for an extra attacker.
Vasily Podkolzin finally broke Sergei Bobrovsky’s shutout bid, scoring at 15:18 of the third.
It's the second straight years the Panthers have beaten the Oilers in the Stanley Cup final. Last year they needed seven games to win it all.
