Gadjovich Responds to Little Girl Who Loved Cup Final Fights

FORT LAUDERDALE — Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final became Fight Night in Sunrise, especially in the third period when 122 penalty minutes were assessed, nine players were basically kicked out, and a bout between Jonah Gadjovich and Darnell Nurse may have gone into Tuesday if the officials stayed away.

One young fan loved every second of it.

Following Monday’s game, Clay Ferraro from WPLG-10 interviewed a 9-year-old named Sophia who was decked out in all of her Panthers finest.

Ferraro asked her what she liked best about Florida’s 6-1 win.

“The fighting,’’ she responded. “It was really good. I really liked how they punched each other. A lot.’’

That, they did.

On Wednesday, Gadjovich was asked about the response, one which drew laughs from the media in the audience as well as Gadjovich and Sam Bennett up on the podium.

“It’s funny. I’m glad she enjoyed it,’’ Gadjovich said. “I don’t know. I’m not really trying to teach kids to do that. But, you know, I hope they enjoyed the rest of the game too. For us, the biggest part was just getting the win. The fans probably enjoyed that as well.’’

Nurse, speaking on Tuesday, said his fight with Gadjovich was the longest of his career.

At the time, all five players on the ice — not counting the two goalies — were mixed up together, with Florida’s entire fourth line swapping punches with someone.

“In situations like that, it happens. It’s a physical sport,’’ Gadjovich said. “We stuck together as a team, we all got each other’s backs and, yeah, I got tied up in there some. We were stuck together for a couple minutes there. It felt pretty long.

“At the end of it, it was just, yeah, we love playing at home. I love playing at home. It’s fun to feed off the crowd, because they’re so loud and so supportive of us. It’s just kind of one of those things, skating into the box, looking up, and just appreciating where I’m at, kind of just soaking it all in. But it was fun. I’m just grateful to have gotten the win. Now we just move on.”

After the game, Brad Marchand gave the game puck to Gadjovich — even though he did not finish the game.

Gadjovich was one of the players tossed in that penalty-filled third.

“It’s very satisfying. It’s rewarding to see that guys ultimately see what we can do and they appreciate it with however many minutes we have,’’ said AJ Greer, who also got shown the door.

“It varies by game, but if we can have an impact on the game and give some confidence to our players and be able to win our shifts and set up the next line for success, we’ve done our job, and it’s always nice to be recognized.”

2025 STANLEY CUP FINAL

GAME 4

EDMONTON OILERS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS

Florida Leads Best-of-7 Series 2-1

• When: Thursday, 8 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• National TV: TNT/truTV 
• National Streaming: Max
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys), SiriusXM
• Radio Streaming: SiriusXM, NHL App
• Series Schedule (all games at 8 p.m., TNT) — Game 1: @Edmonton 4, Florida 3 (OT); Game 2: Florida 5, @Edmonton 4 (2OT); Game 3: @Florida 6, Edmonton 1; Game 4: @Florida, Thursday; Game 5: @Edmonton Saturday; Game 6*: @Florida, Tuesday June 17; Game 7*: @Edmonton, Friday June 20.
• How They Got Here: Edmonton d. Los Angeles (6), Vegas (5), Dallas (5); Florida d. Tampa Bay (5), Toronto (7), Carolina (5)
• Postseason History: Florida Won 2024 Stanley Cup Final 4-3
• Regular Season: Panthers won 2-0
• All-time Regular Season Series: Oilers lead 23-18-0, 3 ties