‘6-7’ craze reaches Florida Panthers, who rally to beat Blue Jackets in overtime

The NHL took its youth outreach to a whole new level Saturday.

On Florida Panthers “6-7 Weekend” (the league-scheduled home Cats games on both Dec. 6 and 7), the Panthers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score, ironically and absurdly enough, of ... 6-7.

Panthers forward Sam Bennett delivered the game-winner with just 3.2 seconds left in overtime, a fitting ending to a wild game that leaned into the 6-7 phenomenon early, often, and after.

For those blissfully unaware of what 6-7 is, ask your kids or neighbors. Or be like Panthers coach Paul Maurice and try to ignore the ubiquitous meme that apparently means absolutely nothing.

“I got asked [about it] walking out somewhere, I think [by] media,” a loose and jovial Maurice said shortly after the two-time defending champs snapped a five-game home losing streak. “Yeah, I have no idea, but, I would reiterate: There’s a whole bunch of things I don’t need to know or investigate, research, or understand better than I do now. So let’s all just leave it right there.”

Inside the Panthers’ locker room, there was a far greater appreciation of the historic (we’re kidding here) nature of the afternoon.

“6-7 night. 6-7 score,” said Panthers forward Brad Marchand, who had a hand in four of Florida’s seven goals, including the game-winner. “I’m sure the kids will have a lot of fun with that, and I know my kids are up there doing the old 6-7 dance, so yeah. It’s fun when those things happen.”

Marchand’s impact on a Panthers team without two of its top leaders all season has been enormous — both on and off the ice.

He on Saturday delivered a poignant pre-game message to a team that limped into this weekend’s back-to-back having lost four straight.

Marchand, who now has 31 points in 26 games on the year, said he focused on “the mentality that we need to have. ... What our expectations need to be and how we’re going to play, how we’re gonna have success. When you’re challenged like that, you know, the way we have been so far the season, it’s great for a group and it really tests you. It tests you as a group and brings a lot out of you.”

OK, back to the real story of the night.

Just how unlikely was this exact score on this exact weekend?

The Panthers (13-12-2) have played hundreds of regular and postseason games since April 5, 2022. Saturday was just the third time in that stretch the game ended in a 7-6 score.

And to have that happen during a home back-to-back played on the sixth and seventh of the month?

We stumped ChatGPT.

But this was the Panthers’ third time in franchise history with a home back-to-back on the sixth and seventh of a given month. Given that the Panthers after Sunday will have played 2.597 games — regular and postseason — in their 32-year history, our back-of-the-envelope math calculated the likelihood as something in the neighborhood of 1 in 87,000.

All it took for that to happen was one of the worst statistical games of Sergei Bobrovsky’s time as a Panthers (six goals allowed on 31 shots) and blown leads of three and two goals in regulation by Columbus (13-9-6).

So yes, if you like offense, this was the game for you.

Like Marchand, Bennett had a goal and three assists. Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals and set up another. Four Blue Jackets — Cole Sillinger, Dmitri Voronkov, Miles Wood, and Isac Lundeström — had two points.

A last-second overtime goal deciding it was fitting, considering how close this affair was.

“It’s great to see,” Bennett said postgame. “This team for a long time has showed a lot of heart, a lot of resilience, and you know, we haven’t really been able to get many comeback wins this year. So that’s big for our group. We’ve showed that we’re gonna fight right at the end every game and it was nice to get rewarded.”

This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM.