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SUNRISE, Fla. — After 14 years, Brad Marchand was reunited with the Stanley Cup. He lifted and kissed the silver chalice moments after the Florida Panthers won Game 6 against the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1, closing out their series and capturing the Cup for a second straight season on Tuesday night.

“It feels completely different. I have so much more respect and appreciation for how difficult it was to get here, how hard it is and the amount of things that need to go right to win. Everything has to line up perfectly,” said Marchand, who won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011. “My situation’s a perfect example of that. I shouldn’t have been here, but it worked out.”

Marchand, 37, was a driving force behind the Panthers’ Stanley Cup win. He had 10 goals and 10 assists in 23 games, skating a plus-17 with linemates Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. While he didn’t score in Game 6, Marchand had 6 goals in 6 games in the Stanley Cup Final with two game-winning goals.

“He’s been a big-game player his whole career. In 2011, he was arguably our best player,” said Shawn Thornton, Marchand’s teammate on the Bruins who is now a business executive for the Panthers. “I wasn’t surprised to see the magic he was making. I don’t think the age thing is in his head.”

Marchand spent 16 NHL seasons with the Bruins until a contract extension impasse led to an NHL trade deadline move to the Panthers. It was a surreal moment for Marchand and the Panthers, as Florida had eliminated the Bruins from the 2023 and 2024 playoffs. Last postseason, Panthers center Sam Bennett injured Marchand with a sucker punch. On Tuesday night, the skated the Stanley Cup as teammates.

“As soon as he got traded here, he chirped me in the group chat instantly for our history and the last playoffs,” recalled Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP.

“What he’s meant to this team … I truly don’t think we win a Stanley Cup without him. His leadership, his will to win, it’s inspiring. I was telling him before every game, ‘We’re going to follow you.’ And we did. He was a dog every night. He for sure could have won this trophy,” Bennett said. “He’s a better player and person than I ever knew and I’m grateful that I got to play with him.”

Marchand said going from nemesis to teammate is a tribute to the chemistry of the Panthers.

“It just shows you that once you become part of a group and you get into this environment … when you’re playing on the same team with each other, you create such an incredible bond,” he said. “They already had an unbelievable culture that the new guys were able to kind of come into and just buy in and enjoy it and embrace it. They made it very easy.”

Florida general manager Bill Zito said Marchand also did his part to build team chemistry.

“I’ve been telling everyone that as much as he did on the ice, it’s what he did in the room that matters,” he said. “If you came in this morning, you wouldn’t have known who the new guy was. That says as much about who he is as a teammate and a hockey player as his extraordinary performance.”

For example, the Panthers started a tradition in the Stanley Cup Playoffs where they would shoot the plastic rats fans tossed on the ice after victories – a decades-long tradition for the team – at Marchand as they left for the dressing room. Even as Florida celebrated the Stanley Cup win, the tradition continued: Forward Sam Reinhart, who scored four goals in the victory, reached down and threw a rat at Marchand as he was kissing the Cup.

“It still felt heavy, that’s for sure,” said Marchand of the Cup. “It’s pretty incredible to do it here at home. It’s so many people here that I love and that had been a huge impact on being part of this, so it’s an incredible feeling.”

Marchand now faces an uncertain future as an unrestricted free agent this offseason. But after the best playoff series of his career in the Stanley Cup Final, he’ll have plenty of suitors.

Florida closed out the Oilers with two straight wins, both of them defined by early offensive and consistently good defense.

The Panthers took the lead just 4:36 into the first period on an incredible individual effort from Reinhart. Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard passed the puck right to Reinhart just outside of the Edmonton zone. Reinhart skated into the zone, turned defenseman Mattias Ekholm inside out and beat goalie Stuart Skinner while falling down for his 8th goal of the playoffs. Skinner had returned as the starter after being benched in Game 5.

It would remain that way through the rest of the first period, which pitted two nervous teams against each other on specious ice, until Matthew Tkachuk scored his 8th of the playoffs. Using a perfect screen from Lundell in front of Skinner, Tkachuk’s shot from between the circles sailed into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

It continued a string of early dominance for the Panthers in the series. Florida scored at least 2 goals in the first period of all six games of the series and outscored the Oilers 9-0 in the last four games of the series.

The Panthers relied on goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for 10 saves in the second period, who had help in the zone when he needed it. Then Reinhart struck again at 17:31 of the second period, as Aleksander Barkov turned a lackadaisical rebound by Skinner into a shot that banked off Reinhart and into the net for a 3-0 lead.

Reinhart completed his hat trick at 13:26 of the third period with an empty-net goal. Just 1:29 later, he scored his fourth goal of the game into another empty Edmonton net, giving him 11 goals on the postseason.

As the seconds ticked down, the Panthers began jumping over the boards to begin their celebration. The Panthers first team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions by beating the same team in both years since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Bruins in the 1977 and 1978.

It was their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Does that make them a dynasty?

“Hell, yeah,” Tkachuk said. “Absolutely.”

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Florida freshman WR Wilson to debut vs. Texas

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Florida freshman WR Wilson to debut vs. Texas

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has offensive help on the way with a freshman receiver who just might make a difference against No. 9 Texas on Saturday.

Dallas Wilson is practicing for the first time since injuring his left foot in training camp and is scheduled to make his collegiate debut against the Longhorns, coach Billy Napier said Monday.

Napier called Wilson’s availability “a big deal.”

“Three good days of work last week, and I thought he handled the load well,” Napier said. “He feels really good. So far, so good.”

Wilson, a 6-foot-3, 213-pound newcomer from Tampa, was the star of Florida’s spring game in April. He caught 10 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns, and all indications in fall practice pointed to it not being a fluke.

But Wilson injured his foot late in camp, spent weeks in a protective boot and watched from afar as the Gators (1-3, 0-1 SEC) struggled to move the ball and find the end zone. Florida scored 16, 10 and 7 points, respectively, in consecutive losses to South Florida, LSU and Miami, raising speculation about Napier’s future in Gainesville.

Quarterback DJ Lagway has been the focus of the team’s offensive woes. The sophomore who went 6-1 as a starter last season missed most of the year dealing with injuries and looked rusty when the season began.

Although Lagway’s mechanics seemed improved in the team’s 26-7 setback at Miami on Sept. 20, his offensive line got manhandled and allowed way too much pressure for anyone to notice. Lagway completed 12 of 23 passes for 61 yards against the Hurricanes.

Napier used the off week to get Lagway more live-action reps in hopes of getting him “caught up.” But he also reiterated the need to “play better around him.”

“Each position group needs to step up,” Napier said. “More detail, eliminate errors, eliminate penalties, whatever the case may be. I just think more detail and better overall play around him. And, obviously, he needs to continue to get back closer to being himself.”

Adding Wilson to the mix should help.

The Gators haven’t shown much depth at receiver. Freshman Vernell Brown III has been Lagway’s go-to guy, catching 18 passes for 219 yards. But Eugene Wilson III, J. Michael Sturdivant and Aidan Mizell have been mostly underwhelming.

Dallas Wilson has been unable to help — until now. The Gators are confident he will change the narrative against the No. 1 scoring defense in the SEC.

“Just having him out is going to be amazing for us,” Lagway said. “His ability to go deep, his ability to make plays underneath and be able to make miraculous plays with the ball in his hands, it’s going to be great to have him back.”

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Finebaum mulls leaving ESPN for U.S. Senate run

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Finebaum mulls leaving ESPN for U.S. Senate run

SEC Network host Paul Finebaum said Monday that he would consider leaving ESPN to run for the U.S. Senate, representing Alabama.

The 70-year-old Finebaum said during a recent interview with Outkick that he’d run as a Republican to fill the seat vacated by former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, who has said he’ll run for Alabama governor in the 2026 elections. Tuberville’s current Senate term ends in 2027.

The qualifying deadline to run for Senate is Jan. 26, 2026. Finebaum said he would likely have to leave his hosting and analyst duties if he decided to run. He told Outkick he’d make a decision within the next 30-45 days.

Finebaum said he hadn’t seriously considered politics, but the assassination of Charlie Kirk was the impetus to give a run at politics further thought. He noted that he had received a “text” from “one or two people in Washington” gauging his interest in politics.

“[It was] something I never thought about before,” Finebaum told Outkick.

Finebaum is currently registered as a Republican in North Carolina, where he works for the SEC Network. He told Outkick he recently moved to Alabama, where he hosted a radio show for years, and would re-register there.

Finebaum hosted radio shows in Alabama for almost 30 years before joining ESPN and the SEC Network. He started his media career as a newspaper writer and columnist.

“Alabama has always been the place I’ve felt the most welcome, that I’ve cared the most about the people,” he said. “I’ve spoken to people from Alabama for 35 years, and I feel there is a connection that is hard to explain.”

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Petrino overhauls staff, fires defensive assistants

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Petrino overhauls staff, fires defensive assistants

Bobby Petrino has fired three defensive assistants just one day after being named interim head coach at Arkansas as part of an overhaul of the Razorbacks’ coaching staff.

Petrino dismissed defensive coordinator Travis Williams, defensive line coach Deke Adams and defensive assistant Marcus Woodson in the latest moves after being appointed interim coach for the rest of the season to replace Sam Pittman, who was fired Sunday following five-plus seasons as Arkansas’ head coach.

“I just felt like how we performed on Saturday gave me an indication that maybe Sam had lost the team a little bit because they generally had played really hard for him throughout his tenure,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said of the move, which came on the heels of a 56-13 home loss to Notre Dame.

Petrino, 64, returned to Arkansas in 2023 as offensive coordinator after serving in a number of jobs. In four years as the Razorbacks’ head coach, he went 34-17, including consecutive seasons with double-digit victories in 2010 and 2011.

“Coach Petrino, as we met yesterday, he accepted this opportunity with the understanding that he also wanted an opportunity to formally be a candidate for our head coaching position, and he will have that opportunity, but we’ll also subsequently run a search for our next head coach at the same time,” Yurachek said.

Pittman’s dismissal, Petrino’s temporary promotion and the defensive assistant dismissals weren’t the only changes. Chris Wilson was named the team’s interim defensive coordinator.

Petrino had high praise for Wilson, who was in his first year with the Razorbacks as an assistant defensive line coach.

“My experience [with Wilson] goes way back to having to battle against him when he had all the great defensive linemen at Mississippi State,” Petrino said. “Very, very impressed with what he’s done throughout his career. Guy’s got a Super Bowl ring. He brings a lot of credibility into the room.”

Several defensive players posted cryptic messages on social media following the firing of Williams, who had served as the team’s defensive coordinator since 2023. Yurachek and Petrino encouraged players to welcome change amid a 2-3 start to the season.

“The No. 1 thing is, you have to get used to change. You know, your whole life there’s going to be change. So how we handle that, our attitude on how we handle that, will determine how quickly we improve,” Petrino said.

Petrino was involved in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in April 2012 that left him with four broken ribs. At first, he said he was riding alone, but a police report revealed a woman was riding with him. The woman turned out to be a former Arkansas athlete who was in a romantic relationship with the married Petrino. The coach had given her a job in the football program and a $20,000 gift.

Petrino was fired by then-athletic director Jeff Long for misleading his bosses about what happened with the accident and his relationship with the football staffer.

Pittman, 63, went 32-34 with the Razorbacks.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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