Panthers' Aleksander Barkov becomes the first Stanley Cup-winning captain from Finland

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — A Finnish flag waved prominently in the stands as the Florida Panthers celebrated with the Stanley Cup. Aleksander Barkov held his 2-year-old child in his arms minutes after getting the trophy from Commissioner Gary Bettman.

The first championship in franchise history was made possible by a handful of Finns, none more effective than Barkov, who became the first captain from his country to be presented and then hoist the Cup.

“I was young when I came here, so I never thought I could celebrate someday with my kid,” Barkov said. “Unreal feeling.”

Asked during the series about being the first Finnish Stanley Cup-winning captain, the 28-year-old responded: “I don’t know what it would mean for the country. It would mean a lot for me.”

Barkov led the way with a dominant two-way postseason, tying for the team lead with 22 points in 24 games and defensively shutting down star opponents throughout the run, from Boston's David Pastrnak to New York's Artemi Panarin and eventually Edmonton's Connor McDavid, who had no points in Games 6 and 7 of the final.

“It starts with Barkov and filters down,” coach Paul Maurice said.

Barkov led a team full of Canadians, Swedes, Russians, Americans — and was one of four Finns in the lineup for the Cup clincher, along with forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Niko Mikkola. One of Maurice's assistants, former player Tuomo Ruutu, is also Finnish.

Maurice said Ruutu is “harder on those guys than the rest.” Barkov is the guy Lundell, 22, and Luostarinen, 25, idolize.

“Everybody who grows up playing hockey in Finland, they look up to guys here, and Sasha’s one guy we all want to be one day,” Lundell said. “You grow up watching his highlights. You go to practice, you want to do (drills) the same way he does them. We all have idols, but I have to say, I think he’s the biggest idol in Finland.”

Mom Olga Barkova, still could not believe it in the aftermath of the Game 7 win.

“It’s been really exciting for the whole family,” she said. “We support each other. So happy this was the last game and they won. Maybe I understand this tomorrow when I see all the pictures.”

Barkov's picture-perfect postseason came on the heels of earning Selke Trophy honors as the best defensive forward in the NHL.

Veteran Kyle Okposo, who joined Florida at the trade deadline, admired him as an opponent for just how suffocating he is defensively and compared Barkov to six-time Selke winner Patrice Bergeron.

“Just the way that he thinks about the game, you don’t see many players that have that (who) are so talented offensively,” Okposo said. “When (Bergeron) hung up his skates in Boston, he was the other guy that never cheated the game. That’s not something that a lot of special offensive players have in their game.”

One play in Game 3 crystallized how much of an impact Barkov can have. He forced Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard to lose the puck, outworked him to get it and set up Florida's goal that silenced the raucous crowd in Edmonton.

“Doesn’t try to make a skilled play, just takes it up the wall, fends him off, turns up, finds a late guy and ends up in the back of the net,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “Simple playoff hockey and he’s (done) a great job for us all playoffs long.”

While McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, Barkov was second after carrying the Panthers through the Lightning, Bruins, Rangers and Oilers. He was one of only a few homegrown players on Florida's roster.

“He’s our leader,” forward Sam Bennett said. “He plays the game the right way. It’s pretty special to see a guy so committed, as gifted as he is offensively, he’s so committed to playing defense and shutting guys down, blocking shots. When you have your All-Star captain playing that way, it carries on to every single guy in the locker room."

Barkov is just the fifth European captain to hoist the Cup after Nicklas Lidstrom with Detroit in 2008, Zdeno Chara with Boston in 2011, Alex Ovechkin with Washington in 2018 and Gabriel Landeskog with Colorado in 2022.

An incorrect photo that previously was linked to this story has been removed.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) hoists the NHL hockey Stanley Cup in front of fans after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov hoists the NHL hockey Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov hoists the NHL hockey Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, left, presents Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) with the NHL hockey Stanley Cup after winning the Final against the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers team captain Aleksander Barkov (16) raises the Stanley Cup trophy after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) receives the Stanley Cup trophy from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1 to win the Stanley Cup. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov hoists the Stanley Cup after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov hoists the Stanley Cup after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, presents the Stanley Cup to Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) lifts the Stanley Cup trophy after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov lifts the Stanley Cup trophy after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina put inmate Freddie Owens to death Friday as the state restarted executions after an unintended 13-year pause because prison officials couldn’t get the drugs needed for lethal injections.

Owens was convicted of the 1997 killing of a Greenville convenience store clerk during a robbery. While on trial, Owens killed an inmate at a county jail. His confession to that attack was read to two different juries and a judge who all sentenced him to death.

Owens, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m.

When the curtain to the death chamber opened, Owens was strapped to a gurney, his arms stretched to his sides.

He mouthed a word to his lawyer, who smiled back. He appeared conscious for about a minute, then his eyes closed and he took several deeps breaths.

His breathing got more shallows and his face twitched for another four or five minutes before the movements stopped.

A medical professional came in and declared him dead about 13 minutes later.

Owens' last-ditch appeals were repeatedly denied, including by a federal court Friday morning. Owens also petitioned for a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court. South Carolina's governor and corrections director swiftly filed a reply, stating the high court should reject Owens' petition. The filing said nothing is exceptional about his case.

The high court denied the request shortly after the scheduled start time of the execution.

His last chance to avoid death was for Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. McMaster denied Owens' request as well, stating that he had “carefully reviewed and thoughtfully considered” Owens' application for clemency.

McMaster said earlier that he would follow historical tradition and announce his decision minutes before the lethal injection begins when prison officials call him and the state attorney general to make sure there is no reason to delay the execution. The former prosecutor had promised to review Owens’ clemency petition but has said he tends to trust prosecutors and juries.

Owens may be the first of several inmates to die in the state's death chamber at Broad River Correctional Institution. Five other inmates are out of appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court has cleared the way to hold an execution every five weeks.

South Carolina first tried to add the firing squad to restart executions after its supply of lethal injection drugs expired and no company was willing to publicly sell them more. But the state had to pass a shield law keeping the drug supplier and much of the protocol for executions secret to be able to reopen the death chamber.

To carry out executions, the state switched from a three-drug method to a new protocol of using just the sedative pentobarbital. The new process is similar to how the federal government kills inmates, according to state prison officials.

South Carolina law allows condemned inmates to choose lethal injection, the new firing squad or the electric chair built in 1912. Owens allowed his lawyer to choose how he died, saying he felt if he made the choice he would be a party to his own death and his religious beliefs denounce suicide.

Owens changed his name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah while in prison but court and prison records continue to refer to him as Owens.

Owens was convicted of killing Irene Graves in 1999. Prosecutors said he fired a shot into the head of the single mother of three who worked three jobs when she said she couldn't open the store's safe.

But hanging over his case is another killing: After his conviction, but before he was sentenced in Graves’ killing, Owens fatally attacked a fellow jail inmate, Christopher Lee.

Owens gave a detailed confession about how he stabbed Lee, burned his eyes, choked and stomped him, ending by saying he did it “because I was wrongly convicted of murder,” according to the written account of an investigator.

That confession was read to each jury and judge who went on to sentence Owens to death. Owens had two different death sentences overturned on appeal only to end up back on death row.

Owens was charged with murder in Lee's death but was never tried. Prosecutors dropped the charges with the right to restore them in 2019 around the time Owens ran out of regular appeals.

In his final appeal, Owens' lawyers said prosecutors never presented scientific evidence that Owens pulled the trigger when Graves was killed and the chief evidence against him was a co-defendant who pleaded guilty and testified that Owens was the killer.

Owens’ attorneys provided a sworn statement two days before the execution from Steven Golden saying Owens was not in the store, contradicting his trial testimony. Prosecutors said other friends of Owens and his former girlfriend testified that he bragged about killing the clerk.

“South Carolina is on the verge of executing a man for a crime he did not commit. We will continue to advocate for Mr. Owens,” attorney Gerald “Bo” King said in a statement.

Owens' lawyers also said he was just 19 when the killing happened and that he had suffered brain damage from physical and sexual violence while in a juvenile prison.

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty plans a vigil outside the prison about 90 minutes before Owens is scheduled to die.

South Carolina’s last execution was in May 2011. It took a decade of wrangling in the Legislature — first adding the firing squad as a method and later passing a shield law — to get capital punishment restarted.

South Carolina has put 43 inmates to death since the death penalty was restarted in the U.S. in 1976. In the early 2000s, it was carrying out an average of three executions a year. Only nine states have put more inmates to death.

But since the unintentional execution pause, South Carolina’s death row population has dwindled. The state had 63 condemned inmates in early 2011. It had 32 when Friday started. About 20 inmates have been taken off death row and received different prison sentences after successful appeals. Others have died of natural causes.

Rev. Hillary Taylor protests the planned execution of Freddie Eugene Owens, 46, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Owens is set to be the first person to be executed in South Carolina in 13 years. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

A demonstrators protests the planned execution of Freddie Eugene Owens, 46, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Owens is set to be the first person to be executed in South Carolina in 13 years. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Jesse Motte, right, protests the planned execution of Freddie Eugene Owens, 46, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Owens is set to be the first person to be executed in South Carolina in 13 years. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Rev. Hillary Taylor protests the planned execution of Freddie Eugene Owens, 46, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Owens is set to be the first person to be executed in South Carolina in 13 years. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

South Carolina prepares for first execution in 13 years

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

South Carolina prepares for first execution in 13 years