Florida loses championships on back-to-back nights

The city of Miami has had a rough 24 hours for its professional sports teams, losing championships on back-to-back days after the Florida Panthers 9-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night.

That loss came just one night after the Miami Heat lost the NBA Finals—also in Game 5—to the Denver Nuggets. 

It is not completely unheard of for a team to lose multiple championships in the same season, as the city of Philadelphia just went through something similar with the Phillies (World Series) and Eagles (Super Bowl) each losing championships last season. 

But on back-to-back nights? 

That is a gut punch, and it could really only happen with these two sports as their playoff scheduling lines up. 

On one hand, it stinks for Miami fans wanting to see a championship. 

But both of these playoff runs were completely unexpected given where each started the postseason. They were both No. 8 seeds in their respective leagues and were not really given a chance to get out of the first round, let alone be playing for a championship.

They both upset No. 1 seeds (the Panthers beat a record-setting Bruins team; Miami beat the Milwaukee Bucks) to start their runs and continued to defy the odds and outside expectations.

In the end, they both ended up just short.

It was an especially bad omen for the Panthers on Tuesday night when just before the game it was announced that Matthew Tkachuk, their best player and an MVP finalist during the 2022-23 season, would not be available due to injury. 

He probably would not have been enough to make a difference given the way Vegas played on Tuesday, but the Panthers were already outmatched in this series and taking away Tkachuk simply made the mountain even more insurmountable.