Unique ending
Game seven of the Stanley Cup final is a not insignificant event of late. The last time a major playoff series reached a deciding game was St. Louis. It was 2019 when the St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins. And before that, the seventh game was played in 2011 – then the same Boston beat the Vancouver Canucks. The other eleven finals in that period always featured five or six matches.
It is interesting that both of these series refer not only to the number of matches but also to this year’s cup competition. In 2019, forward Vladimir Tarasenko won his first career Stanley Cup and now plays alongside goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov in Florida. The 2011 final looks like a comeback staged by Boston. Then the “bears” were inferior to “Vancouver” – 0-2 and 2-3, but they managed to turn everything around and hold the last meeting on foreign ice.
The scenario wasn’t quite the same this time, but they rarely come back from 0-3 in the NHL and only twice in the finals. In 1942, the Detroit Red Wings tied the score with the Toronto Maple Leafs at 0-3, but still lost the Cup, and three years later the Maple Leafs not only came back, having lost their first three games, but they also made it. winning in seventh place.
So the Oilers managed to recover from 0-3 in the final series, 79 years after the previous incident. And like Boston in 2011, they would end the conflict in their favor on someone else’s turf. Moreover, they were considered quite the favourites. So how could it be otherwise if Chris Knoblock’s team wins three consecutive matches with a total score of 18:5?
How could it be otherwise when these playoffs include the best player on the planet, Connor McDavid, who broke Wayne Gretzky’s record for assists in a single playoff?
Number 97 was followed by his teammates with 42 (8+34) points, Evan Bouchard with 32 (6+26) and Leon Draisaitl with 31 (10+21) points. Florida’s Matt Tkachak and Alexander Barkov, who ranked fourth, had 22 points each.
Even before the decisive game, no one particularly doubted that no matter the result, the Conn Smythe Trophy, the award for the most valuable player of the playoffs, would go to McDavid, and losers very rarely receive this award. The last time Anaheim Ducks goaltender Jean-Sébastien Giguère won the trophy was 2003, and the only outfielder to play for Conn Smythe since the club’s debacle in 1979 was Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers, who still holds the trophy . for a Stanley Cup championship (19 goals in 16 games).
Florida Panthers – Edmonton Oilers – 2:1 (series score – 4-3)
Despite the dismal results of the last three games of the series, which Florida lost with a score of 1:8, Paul Maurice’s team looked very fresh from the first minutes of the main match of the year.
It was the “Panthers” who had the initiative at the beginning of the game, which ultimately resulted in the ejection of visiting forward Warren Voegele, who took a high stick to Brandon Montour’s face in the fight.
Edmonton hockey players have repeatedly said the key to their success in the current playoffs is playing largely in the minority. Noblock’s team showed truly incredible numbers in neutralizing most of the opponents in the play-offs, breaking the 95% mark!
Officially, in the seventh game of the final, the Oilers did not give up either, with one player missing – Voegele had already left the penalty area, but had not even reached his own zone yet, Carter Verhaeghe brilliantly corrected Evan on the spot. Rodriguez’s shot from the left wing.
True, Edmonton once again showed its character and soon recovered. “Florida” had a good chance, but in the counterattack defender Cody Sisi crossed half the field and brought Mattias Janmark to meet Bobrovsky.
The Swedish striker, who could not catch the stars from the sky but was running fast, could not make a perfect shot, and the Russian goalkeeper managed to catch the puck with the edge of his pad, but the puck flew away from him and got stuck under the ball. crossbar.
Both teams had many good chances until the end of the first period and Bouchard, who had a great play-off, missed the best chance. He stole the barbell after a powerful click from the defender on the blue line, who was pretending to be Bobrovsky’s girlfriend.
In terms of shots (9-10), the second period was the most intense of the match, but the seriousness began to fade – the tension and the cost of a mistake were too great, and therefore the teams closed unconsciously. We are trying to act more trustworthy.
The highlight of the final took place in the seventh minute of the second part, when Bobrovsky reflected Vogele’s unpleasant shot, but after that the puck fell just in front of the empty corner of the goal, and the home team was saved by Kulikov. Rushing onto the ice, the player hit the puck into the side with his stick and it flew painfully towards the goal.
Surprisingly, with this move the Russian made his second goal assist in these play-offs, as Verhaeghe, receiving the puck, passed it to Sam Rinehart, who slid deep into another from the central zone, as if trying to understand. He decided who to pass the pass to but then threw it hard into the nearest corner, fumbled by Stuart Skinner, who was considered Edmonton’s weakest link ahead of the play-offs.
No matter how hard Edmonton tried in the remaining time, it couldn’t win it back. Florida knows how to maintain the advantage, and they proved it. After the siren, Panthers players and coaching staff gathered in the arena in the joy of victory.
Even Conn Smythe’s presentation to McDavid didn’t spoil it, especially since everyone realized that the losers’ captain certainly deserved the significant, but in this case bitter, reward.
Sergei Bobrovsky, the only goalie with two eliminations in these playoffs, won his first Stanley Cup, as did Dmitry Kulikov, and Tarasenko, who quite consciously moved from Ottawa to Sunrise (his family lives here) at the deadline, will try his own luck. second championship ring.
In honor of the Panthers’ victory, fans hung the Russian flag in the stands filled with team jerseys.