from Greg Cote of the Miami Herald,

If the Florida Panthers have a wall for trophies won, “the head of the beast” had better have an honored place high on it.

If they don’t have such a wall ... build it now.

The Panthers finished off the near-impossible in Game 7 Sunday night in Boston, winning a third straight must-win game against a Bruins team that set all-time NHL records for most victories and points in a season.

It was 4-3, in overtime, on the Carter Verhaeghe goal that stunned a home crowd dreaming of nothing less than the Stanley Cup.

So, yes: A Florida team that disappointed much of this season and scrambled late to barely make the postseason just accomplished the greatest series upset in hockey history.

“For our whole team here, it’s been us against the whole hockey world and what everybody says,” said the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk. “Boston had the most successful home season in however many years, obviously the best season in NHL history. It’s going right at the head of the beast when you’re playing in Boston. We’re just excited to go after the head of the beast.”

The TV announcer called the Panthers “the underdog of all underdogs.”

That team just beat the beast.

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