RALEIGH, N.C. — By Thursday morning, Bill Zito had long moved on, just as they all had. Another Stanley Cup Final awaited, another championship beckoned, and the Florida Panthers general manager stood on the third floor of the team’s hotel, celebrating the previous night’s clinching win against Carolina by not celebrating it one bit.
“Remember when we came in here, we hadn’t won in, what, 20 years?” he said of being hired in 2020.
Twenty-five years the Panthers had gone without a playoff series win, he was told.
“Twenty-five, and then, ‘Aw, you’re in the playoffs — awesome!’” he said.
He shook a fist in the air in remembering that emotion.
“That was exciting and fun,’’ he said. “It was important to win a round. We’d never won a round. When we got past Washington (in 2022), oh my goodness…”
He waved his hands and made a noise like a large crowd, “Ahhhh.”
“Hugs,’’ he said.
Three years of advancing to the final and one championship later, there were noticeably no hugs after beating Carolina late Wednesday night to clinch a third straight Eastern Conference title.
The players barely smiled after the game. Zito and coach Paul Maurice sat at the team’s postgame dinner at the hotel and began plotting ahead.
“I don’t think the elation of the moment diminishes,’’ Zito said. “I think the manner it manifests itself does. It’s just channeled differently. And what comes with it is respect. Respect for your opponent. Respect for what’s ahead.
“The respect of where you are in tandem with the hunger — you want to do it again. You want to do it again. What can we start doing now toward that? Don’t stop. Don’t get content. There’s work to do.”
Florida Panthers’ Carter Verhaeghe, right, celebrates his goal with teammate Aleksander Barkov (16), center with Sam Reinhart (13) and Carolina Hurricanes’ William Carrier (28) nearby during the third period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
That’s why Zito stood there Thursday morning as players walked around preparing for the flight home from Raleigh, and said there’s one question rattling around in his mind as he considered a third consecutive final trip:
“How have I screwed up before?” he said.
He meant in the logistics and planning. Meals. Travel plans. Tickets for players’ families. Anything that might distract the Panthers as they climb the final stretch of the mountain, the toughest step of all. It will stick with them the longest, too, as the two previous years taught.
“We’ve had them go both ways,’’ forward Matthew Tkachuk.
Their winning the Cup last spring still resonates. Their loss in 2023 does in pain, too. That’s how it works in any sport and every era. Old Dolphins players like Joe Rose and Kim Bokamper were asked recently how long it took to get over losing the Super Bowls after the 1982 and 1984 seasons.
“You never get over it,’’ Rose said.
Even the only two other South Florida teams that went to three straight championship rounds like the Panthers carry scars of their journeys. Coach Don Shula stood in the Dolphins locker room after losing the 1971 season’s Super Bowl and told his players, “Remember how bad you feel to help win next year.” They won the next two titles.
Heat president Pat Riley visited LeBron James two weeks after losing the title in 2011 and found him unshaven and un-showered. Like a “homeless man,” as Riley said. That’s what losing in the NBA Finals did. It also gave that Heat team the final, painful lesson it needed to win championships the next two years.
“Frequently,’’ Zito said when asked how often he thinks of losing to Vegas in the final two springs ago, the only series they’ve lost against 10 wins.
Zito built and coach Paul Maurice developed this team, which by now is a full team the likes of which come along rarely. Five different players scored goals in the close-out win against Carolina. Nineteen players have scored goals these playoffs — only eight teams have had more score in a playoffs. There’s a series yet to play, too.
Zito turned to Maurice at the postgame dinner as Wednesday night turned to Thursday morning in the Raleigh hotel and said of the players, “Look at them. They’re all comfortable together. No cliques. No groups. They’re a team.”
They’re rubbing against history now, too. Only Tampa Bay (2020-2022) has been to the Stanley Cup Final three straight times since 1985, long before the NHL’s salary-cap era that made sustained winning more difficult.
Just making it here isn’t the goal, though.
“We learned,’’ Zito said. “The journey isn’t over and there’s work to do and we have to be focused on that and keep your eye on the goal.”
He then said the line that defines a team making its third straight trip to the finals:
“Don’t let success get in our way.”
Originally Published: May 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM EDT