The Stanley Cup is the playoffs of the National Hockey League. For the 2016-2017 NHL season, the 2017 Stanley Cup kicks off on April 12 and ends by mid-June.
Traditionally, the NHL playoffs consist of four rounds, where the conference champions are determined in the third, and the owner of the Stanley Cup itself is determined in the fourth.
Stanley Cup 2017: who is playing
The fight for the Stanley Cup are 16 teams - eight each from the Western and Eastern conferences. Since 2014, three are guaranteed to qualify for the playoffs best teams from each of the four NHL divisions, so it's far from certain that the eight clubs with the most points in their conferences are in the eights.
In case of equality of points, additional indicators. The first is the number of wins in regulation time and overtime. The second is the number of points scored in head-to-head meetings commands. If these indicators are not enough, then the total difference between goals and missed goals is taken into account.
In each round of the Stanley Cup, the series lasts up to four victories. The format is 2-2-1-1-1, that is, the first two meetings on the court of the team seeded above, then two at home for the “weaker” team, and then the clubs take turns accepting each other. Matches five through seven are held if the previous meetings were not enough to determine who will go further. The winning team advances to the next round, the losing team ends the season.
In the first two rounds, the division winners get the advantage in the formation of the bracket, but from the third round, the club with the most points in the regular season will be higher in the bracket - even if it was ranked lower in the previous rounds. In the Stanley Cup Finals, home court advantage is given to the team with the most points in the regular season.
In the early years, the Stanley Cup was not an integral part of the NHL: along with this league, representatives of other American teams fought for it. hockey championships. However, by 1926, all competitors in the NHL were closed, and the Stanley Cup began to be played only by its teams, and since 1947 it has officially been considered part of the NHL season.
Stanley Cup - the most titled clubs
The most titled club in Stanley Cup history is the Montreal Canadiens, who have won the trophy 24 times. 13 wins for Toronto Maple Leafs, 11 for Detroit Red Wings, 6 for Boston and Chicago, 5 wins for Edmonton, 4 wins for Rangers, Islanders and Pittsburgh ".
MOSCOW, June 12 - R-Sport, Semyon Galkevich. Hockey players" Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals and won the most prestigious trophy in North American hockey for the second year in a row (fifth time in history). For the first time since 1998, the Stanley Cup winner managed to defend the title.
On Sunday, Pittsburgh scored two unanswered goals against Nashville to make the series 4-2 (5-3, 4-1, 1-5, 1-4, 6-0, 2-0). Pittsburgh has previously won the Stanley Cup in 1991, 1992, 2009 and 2016.
The Penguins became the seventh team in the NHL to have at least five league titles on their track record, along with Montreal (24), Toronto (13), Detroit (11), Boston (6), " Chicago (6) and Edmonton (5). On the way to the finals, Pittsburgh defeated Columbus (4-1 in the series), Washington (4-3) and Ottawa (4-3). Pittsburgh Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby won the Conn Smythe Trophy, the most valuable player in the playoffs, for the second time in a row.
Forward Evgeni Malkin finished fourth Russian player, who won three Stanley Cups, after Igor Larionov, Sergey Fedorov (both in 1997, 1998 and 2002 with Detroit) and Sergey Brylin (1995, 2000, 2003 - with New Jersey). Vyacheslav Fetisov also has three rings, but the last of them was won as a coach.
Pittsburgh is building a dynasty
Hockey players “Pittsburgh” opened the series with two home victories with a score of 5:3 and 4:1, but “Nashville”, which throughout the playoffs played great on its ice (the only defeat the team suffered from “Anaheim” in overtime match semi final series), more than confidently answered the "penguins" - victories with a score of 5:1 and 4:1. Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne tied Antti Niemi in Game 4 for Finnish goaltenders in NHL playoff wins (36).
The fifth game was held with the full advantage of the “Penguins” and ended with a crushing score of 6:0. Malkin scored the tenth goal in the playoffs, and Crosby scored three assists (and thus became the most productive player in the club's history in the Stanley Cup Finals), and goaltender Matt Murray, who missed the first two rounds, became the second goaltender in Penguins history to play "to zero" in the final series.
"We just screwed up the start of the game. You have to give Pittsburgh credit, they kind of pulled a page out of our textbook," Nashville leader P.K. Subban commented on the devastating loss. and used them well."
In Game 6 of the Finals, the Predators suffered their first regular-time loss in the entire playoffs at home and forfeited their chance at the league title. It should be noted that for the “Nashville” is the very exit to the final is the highest achievement in the 19-year history of the club. The club had never even played in a conference final before.
Malkin led the NHL playoffs with 28 (10 goals + 18 assists) points, his teammate Jake Gunzel became best sniper with 13 pucks. Previously, Malkin became top scorer(36 points) and playoff passer (22 assists) in 2009. Günzel, 22, tied the rookie league record for playoff points with 21 (13+8). Previously, Dino Sissarelli (14 + 7) in 1981 and Ville Leino (7 + 14) in 2010 scored the same amount.
What's next for Ovechkin?
It was “Pittsburgh” for the second year in a row that got in the way of “Washington” Alexander Ovechkin, who also won the President's Cup for the second year in a row, awarded to the winner of the NHL regular season. The Capitals dream of the Stanley Cup every year, but in fact, in the previous 11 seasons that Alexander Ovechkin has been on the team, they have never gone beyond the second round. This did not happen on the 12th attempt either - in the first round, "Washington" passed "Toronto", after which Pittsburgh knocked out the team from the playoffs.
Ovechkin, who was heavily criticized throughout the playoffs, was the only player in the decisive, seventh game of the series with Pittsburgh (0-2), who completed the meeting with a minus 2 utility indicator. After that, talk about the need to exchange Ovechkin from the club began with renewed vigor.
“People expect us to make big decisions. I think they look at certain moments in his game and say, ‘This is not acceptable. I don't think it's reasonable at the moment. Maybe someday, if there is a decent compensation ... But I don't think we are not interested now. Ovechkin is an important part of Washington and he will remain so in the future, "said Washington Capitals general manager Brian McLellan.
“I don’t want to stay at the same level, I want to get better. This summer I need to work harder to succeed and win the Stanley Cup,” said Ovechkin himself, who for the first time since 2009 did not come to the Russian team to participate in the World Cup in connection with trauma.
Season at the National hockey league does not end - from June 18 to June 21, an expansion draft will take place, during which the Vegas entering the NHL will be able to select one player from each team in the league. Awards will be held June 21 in Las Vegas the best hockey players season, and then on June 23-24, another league draft will be held in Chicago.
Game 6 of the final series will take place in Nashville on Sunday, with the Penguins on the verge of winning a second straight Stanley Cup. However, this does not mean that Nashville has no chance to take the title on their own: in this playoff, the team has won nine out of ten home matches and is confident that the outcome of the final will be decided no earlier than the seventh meeting.
The end or just the beginning?
Judging solely by the minutes of the meetings, the final is far from over. So far, none of the teams have lost a home match, and Nashville generally has the most impressive track record on its ice among all the participants in the playoffs. However, the unpredictability of plots, sometimes popping up to the surface right during the matches, does not allow us to state anything with certainty.
In five matches of the final, the home teams took five matches with a total score of 24:6. The Predators outplayed Pittsburgh in two meetings with a total score of 9: 2, where only one puck was thrown into an empty net.
How will Nashville respond to the defeat in the fifth game?
The 6-0 loss in Game 5 was one of the biggest in the 2017 playoffs. Earlier, “Edmonton” lost with a score of 0:7 “San Jose”, and “Anaheim” lost to the same “Edmonton” – 1:7. Finally, “Ottawa” was destroyed just “Pittsburgh” (0:7). The losers managed to take revenge in the next match.
Will Nashville be fourth? The team really believes in this, although they understand that the reasons for the defeat in the fifth meeting lie not in luck or individual mistakes that changed the course of the game.
“I think this is the first time in the entire final that we were really outplayed,” Laviolette said. “It happened that they had a chance, then a second, a third, and sometimes a fourth. much tighter."
Pittsburgh in the Finals
The Penguins have won the Stanley Cup four times in the NHL's newest era and have won the title on the road each time.
In 1991, Minnesota was beaten (4-2), in 1992 the team did not give a single game to Chicago, in 2009 Detroit was beaten in match No. 7, and in 2016 in six games - San Jose. Pittsburgh fans have never seen their favorite team triumph live, but they won't mind if the scenario repeats itself again in 2017.
However, only in one case out of four (in the series with the “Blackhawks” in 1992) “Penguins” were able to issue a championship as quickly as possible. In all the rest, “Pittsburgh” lacked one victory and a series, albeit not for long, but dragged on. Exactly a year ago, the club was leading 3-1 in the final and playing match number 5 on its ice, but was forced to fly to California again for the sixth meeting.
"We expect to meet a desperate team on Sunday. We will need Best game to which we are only capable. Perhaps it will help us that on the road you often simplify your hockey,” said captain Sidney Crosby.
The stars of the Penguins will be the key to victory
The fifth meeting of the finals fully demonstrated what the Penguins are capable of on a day when their stars Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and current Art Ross Trophy winner Crosby are playing. Three scored eight points: Malkin scored a goal and provided an assist, Kessel scored a puck and two assists, and Crosby scored an assistant hat-trick.
The Pittsburgh captain had a second very powerful fight in a row and moved to the forefront of the list of contenders for the Conn Smythe Trophy, which he already won last year. Nashville knows it's next to impossible to beat the Penguins with all three of them flying around the field, so they're going to pay special attention to marking them.
Ellis' participation is questionable
One of the Predators defense leaders, Ryan Ellis, left the ice during Game 5 and did not participate in Saturday's training session, which, however, was voluntary. “Nashville” is in no hurry to disclose at least some details of the damage and on Saturday evening, his participation in the sixth meeting was in question.
If the Canadian defender still does not take the ice, Matt Irwin will most likely take his place with Yossi. For the Predators, making up for this loss will be at least difficult, because during the playoffs, Ellis spent an average of 23 minutes on the ice.
Pittsburgh's most significant loss is center forward Nick Bonino, who was out with a leg injury for another early stage final. On Saturday, Bonino again missed the team's ice session. Almost certainly, his participation in Sunday's meeting is ruled out.
Based on materials
MOSCOW, June 12 - R-Sport, Semyon Galkevich. The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators in the sixth game of the Stanley Cup Finals and won the most prestigious trophy in North American hockey for the second year in a row (the fifth time in history). For the first time since 1998, the Stanley Cup winner managed to defend the title.
On Sunday, Pittsburgh scored two unanswered goals against Nashville to make the series 4-2 (5-3, 4-1, 1-5, 1-4, 6-0, 2-0). Pittsburgh has previously won the Stanley Cup in 1991, 1992, 2009 and 2016.
The Penguins became the seventh team in the NHL to have at least five league titles on their track record, along with Montreal (24), Toronto (13), Detroit (11), Boston (6), " Chicago (6) and Edmonton (5). On the way to the finals, Pittsburgh defeated Columbus (4-1 in the series), Washington (4-3) and Ottawa (4-3). Pittsburgh Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby won the Conn Smythe Trophy, the most valuable player in the playoffs, for the second time in a row.
Forward Evgeni Malkin became the fourth Russian player to win three Stanley Cups, after Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov (both in 1997, 1998 and 2002 with Detroit) and Sergei Brylin (1995, 2000, 2003 with New Jersey) ). Vyacheslav Fetisov also has three rings, but the last of them was won as a coach.
Pittsburgh is building a dynasty
Hockey players “Pittsburgh” opened the series with two home victories with a score of 5:3 and 4:1, but “Nashville”, throughout the playoffs, played great on its ice (the only defeat the team suffered from “Anaheim” in overtime match of the semifinal series) , more than confidently answered the "penguins" - victories with a score of 5:1 and 4:1. Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne tied Antti Niemi in Game 4 for Finnish goaltenders in NHL playoff wins (36).
The fifth game was held with the full advantage of the “Penguins” and ended with a crushing score of 6:0. Malkin scored the tenth goal in the playoffs, and Crosby scored three assists (and thus became the most productive player in the club's history in the Stanley Cup Finals), and goaltender Matt Murray, who missed the first two rounds, became the second goaltender in Penguins history to play "to zero" in the final series.
"We just screwed up the start of the game. You have to give Pittsburgh credit, they kind of pulled a page out of our textbook," Nashville leader P.K. Subban commented on the devastating loss. and used them well."
In Game 6 of the Finals, the Predators suffered their first regular-time loss in the entire playoffs at home and forfeited their chance at the league title. It should be noted that for the “Nashville” is the very exit to the final is the highest achievement in the 19-year history of the club. The club had never even played in a conference final before.
Malkin led the NHL playoffs with 28 points (10 goals + 18 assists), while his teammate Jake Günzel was the top scorer with 13 goals. Previously, Malkin was the top scorer (36 points) and passer (22 assists) of the playoffs in 2009. Günzel, 22, tied the rookie league record for playoff points with 21 (13+8). Previously, Dino Sissarelli (14 + 7) in 1981 and Ville Leino (7 + 14) in 2010 scored the same amount.
What's next for Ovechkin?
It was “Pittsburgh” for the second year in a row that got in the way of “Washington” Alexander Ovechkin, who also won the President's Cup for the second year in a row, awarded to the winner of the NHL regular season. The Capitals dream of the Stanley Cup every year, but in fact, in the previous 11 seasons that Alexander Ovechkin has been on the team, they have never gone beyond the second round. This did not happen on the 12th attempt either - in the first round, "Washington" passed "Toronto", after which Pittsburgh knocked out the team from the playoffs.
Ovechkin, who was heavily criticized throughout the playoffs, was the only player in the decisive, seventh game of the series with Pittsburgh (0-2), who completed the meeting with a minus 2 utility indicator. After that, talk about the need to exchange Ovechkin from the club began with renewed vigor.
“People expect us to make big decisions. I think they look at certain moments in his game and say, ‘This is not acceptable. I don't think it's reasonable at the moment. Maybe someday, if there is a decent compensation ... But I don't think we are not interested now. Ovechkin is an important part of Washington and he will remain so in the future, "said Washington Capitals general manager Brian McLellan.
“I don’t want to stay at the same level, I want to get better. This summer I need to work harder to succeed and win the Stanley Cup,” said Ovechkin himself, who for the first time since 2009 did not come to the Russian team to participate in the World Cup in connection with trauma.
The season in the National Hockey League does not end - from June 18 to June 21, an expansion draft will take place, during which the Vegas entering the NHL will be able to select one player from each league team. On June 21, Las Vegas will host the awarding of the best hockey players of the season, and then on June 23-24, another league draft will be held in Chicago.
The 2017 NHL Playoff Finals - aka the 2017 Stanley Cup - are two American teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators. The Penguins, led by Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, took second place in the NHL regular season in the Eastern Conference. On the way to the finals, Pittsburgh defeated Columbus, Washington and Ottawa. Well, Nashville, which took only eighth place in the regular season in the West, became the main sensation of the Stanley Cup. In the first round of the playoffs, the Predators unexpectedly knocked out the favorite - Chicago, then dealt with St. Louis, and defeated Anaheim in the semifinals.
It is worth noting that Pittsburgh, coached by Mike Sullivan, is the reigning Stanley Cup winner, while Nashville, coached by Peter Laviolette, made it to the playoff finals for the first time in history.
2017 Stanley Cup Final Schedule
In the final series, held, as usual, up to four victories, Pittsburgh has the advantage of its site. This means that out of seven possible matches, the teams will play the first, second, and, if necessary, the fifth and seventh meetings in Pittsburgh. Accordingly, matches three, four and six will be held in Nashville.
It is worth noting that all games in the series will start at 3 am Moscow time. Game 1 will be played in Pittsburgh on May 30, Game 2 on June 1, after which the series will move to Nashville for games three and four on June 4 and 6. Further, if necessary, the series will return to Pittsburgh, where the fifth match will take place on June 9. If it comes to the sixth meeting, it will be held in Nashville on June 12th. And, finally, the seventh match can take place in Pittsburgh on June 15th.
Russians in the Stanley Cup Final - 2017
Only one Russian made it to the final series. But what! One of the best forwards in the league, one of the superstars of the NHL, Evgeni Malkin will do everything to win his next trophy. The Russian center forward Penguins very successfully interacts in a trio with the American Phil Kessel, but in most cases Gino comes out in a special team along with another star - Canadian captain Sidney Crosby.
Let's add that Russian striker Vladislav Kamenev plays in the Nashville system. This season, he played in the regular season for the Predators in two matches, but did not appear on the ice in the playoffs. It is unlikely that Kamenev will be released in the final, so Russian fans have to keep an eye on Malkin, who is very close to another success.
Stanley Cup - 2017. Presentation of the final
Pittsburgh (2) - Nashville (8)
Matches in the championship - 2016/17: Pittsburgh - 4: 2 (01.02); Nashville - 1:5 (23.10)
Goalkeeping reliability: Murray (1.35, 94.6%), Fleury (2.56, 92.4%) – Rinne (1.70, 94.1%), Saros (did not play in the playoffs)
Playing in unequal compositions: majority 25.0% - 14.9%, minority 85.5% - 88.1%
Injured: s Letang – n Johansen, n Fiala
Sports Day by Day Forecast: Pittsburgh wins in seven games
Estimated compositions
"Pittsburgh"
Goalkeepers:
30 Matthew Murray
29 Marc-Andre Fleury
Right backs:
3 Ollie Maatta
8 Brian Dumoulin
4 Justin Schultz
Left backs:
6 Trevor Daly
65 Ron Hainsey
28 Ian Cole
Right hitters:
17 Brian Rust
81 Phil Kessel
72 Patrick Hornquist
43 Conor Sheary
Center forwards:
87 Sidney Crosby (c)
71 Evgeny MALKIN
13 Nick Bonino
7 Matt Cullen
Left forwards:
59 Jake Gentzel
23 Scott Wilson
62 Carl Hagelin
14 Chris Kunitz
Head Coach: Mike Sullivan
"Nashville"
Goalkeepers:
35 Pekka Rinne
74 Juuse Saros
Right backs:
76 PK Subban
4 Ryan Ellis
7 Yannick Weber
Left backs:
14 Matthias Ekholm
59 Roman Yosi
52 Matt Irwin
Right hitters:
46 Pontus Oberg
18 James Neal
15 Craig Smith
51 Austin Watson
Center forwards:
10 Colton Sissons
19 Calle Jarnkrok
12 Mike Fisher (c)
83 Vernon Fiddler
Left forwards:
9 Philip Forsberg
38 Victor Arvidsson
33 Colin Wilson
55 Cody McLeod
Head Coach: Peter Laviolette