Come, follow the Cup. Watch it pass from player to player, journey to journey. Bobrovsky gave the Cup to Kyle Okposo, who tried to hide amid in the celebration. The late-season acquisition and small roster part didn’t feel worthy of being the third player to receive it.

There’s a pecking order to carrying the Cup in hockey. But that, too, reflected this team’s success. The least was the best, and the best the least. Okposo played more than 1,000 games in Buffalo, not winning much. At 35, he negotiated his release this winter so the Panthers could pick him up.

“It couldn’t have worked out any better,’’ he said.

That’s how much the Panthers had changed in recent years: Players want to come here. Matthew Tkachuk, for instance. He redefined who the Panthers were. He held up the Cup and looked up to his family, including father Keith and brother Brady, past and present NHL stars, crying in the stands.

Sam Reinhart held it, said he hadn’t had a drink in months and wanted to drink from the Cup.

“It’s the coolest thing I’ve done in my life,’’ Sam Bennett said of skating with the Cup. “That’s the only way I can describe it.”

Paul Maurice stood live on ESPN, starting an interview with Emily Kaplan, who said, “Paul, three decades in the game, and you’re a Stanley Cup champion. Describe your emotions.”

“Well …”

Tkachuk tapped Maurice’s shoulder and pointed behind the coach.

“Hold on,’’ Maurice said. “We’ve got a visitor.”

...continued

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