The Latest Breaking News from the Stanley Cup Final

The rubber rats were falling and a long-suffering hockey franchise was rising Wednesday night. And in a packed arena full of sonic joy, fans were partying like it was 1996.

Matthew Tkachuk scored a power-play goal with 4.9 seconds left, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 36 shots to cap off a brilliant series, and the Florida Panthers earned their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 27 years by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 to win the Eastern Conference title in…

MONTREAL — Artturi Lehkonen was standing at the same end of the ice where he scored the Canadiens’ most important goal of this century. That goal, the Game 6 overtime winner that sent Montreal to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, played above him on the Bell Centre jumbotron.