Ice hockey stanley cup games. NHL season: Malkin wins third Stanley Cup, Ovechkin continues to hope

Stanley Cup - National Hockey League playoffs. In 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 Stanley Cup winner in the fourth.

Stanley Cup 2017: who plays

There are 16 teams competing for the Stanley Cup - eight each from the Western and Eastern Conferences. Since 2014, the top three teams from each of the four divisions of the NHL are guaranteed to make the playoffs, so it is far from certain that the eight clubs with the most points in their conferences end up in the eights.

If points are equal, additional indicators are taken into account. The first is the number of wins in regular time and overtime. The second is the number of points scored in head-to-head meetings of the teams. If these indicators are not enough, then the total difference between the goals scored and the goals conceded is taken into account.

In each round of the Stanley Cup, the series lasts up to four wins. The format is 2-2-1-1-1, that is, the first two meetings on the site of the team seeded above, then two at home with the “weaker” team, and then the clubs take turns taking each other. Matches from the fifth to the seventh are played if the previous meetings were not enough to determine who will go next. The winning team advances to the next round, the loser ends the season.

In the first two rounds, the winners of the divisions gain 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 in the lower bracket in the previous rounds. In the Stanley Cup final, the team with the most points in the regular season gets home advantage.

In the early years, the Stanley Cup was not an integral part of the NHL: along with this league, representatives of other American hockey championships fought for it. However, by 1926, all competitors of the NHL had closed, and the Stanley Cup was played only by its teams, and since 1947 it has officially become part of the NHL season.

Stanley Cup - the most titled clubs

The most titled club in Stanley Cup history is the Montreal Canadiens, winning the trophy 24 times. Toronto Maple Leaves 13 wins, Detroit Red Wings 11, Boston and Chicago 6 each, Edmonton won 5 times, Rangers, Islanders and Pittsburgh four times ”.

MOSCOW, June 12 - R-Sport, Semyon Galkevich. Hockey Pittsburgh Penguins won the Nashville Predators in the sixth match of the Stanley Cup Finals and won the most prestigious trophy in North American ice hockey for the second year in a row (the fifth time in history). For the first time since 1998, a Stanley Cup winner has defended the title.

On Sunday, “Pittsburgh” threw two unanswered goals against “Nashville”, making the score in the series - 4-2 (5: 3, 4: 1, 1: 5, 1: 4, 6: 0, 2: 0). Previously, Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup in 1991, 1992, 2009 and 2016.

The Penguins became the seventh NHL team to have at least five league titles in 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 beat Columbus (4-1 in the series), Washington (4-3) and Ottawa (4-3). Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby has won the Conn Smythe Trophy, 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 one 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 superbly on their ice (the team suffered the only defeat from Anaheim in overtime of the semifinal series) , more than confidently answered the "penguins" - victories with a score of 5: 1 and 4: 1. Nashville goalkeeper Pekka Rinne caught up with Antti Niemi in the number of NHL playoff victories for Finnish goalkeepers after the fourth game (36).

The fifth game took place 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 history of the club in the Stanley Cup finals), and goalkeeper Matt Murray, who missed the first two rounds, became the second goalkeeper in the history of the Penguins to play "zero" in the final series.

“We just failed the start of the game. We must pay tribute to“ Pittsburgh ”, they seemed to have pulled a page out of our textbook, - commented on the crushing defeat of the leader of“ Nashville ”P Kay Subban. and used them well. "

In the sixth game of the final, the “predators” suffered the first defeat in the entire playoffs in regulation time at home and lost their chances for a champion title. It should be noted that for “Nashville” already reaching the final is the highest achievement in the 19-year history of the club. The club had never even played in the conference finals before.

The top scorer in the NHL playoffs was Malkin, with 28 (10 goals + 18 assists) points, his teammate Jake Günzel became the top scorer with 13 goals. Previously, Malkin became the top scorer (36 points) and assists (22 assists) in the playoffs in 2009. Günzel, 22, has doubled the league rookie record in playoff points with 21 (13 goals, 8 assists). Previously, Dino Cissarelli (14 + 7) in 1981 and Ville Leino (7 + 14) in 2010 scored the same number.

What awaits 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. “Capital” every year dream of the Stanley Cup, but in fact for the previous 11 seasons, that Alexander Ovechkin is in the team, they never went beyond the second round. This did not happen from the 12th attempt - in the first round, “Washington” passed “Toronto”, after which the team was knocked out of the playoffs by “Pittsburgh”.

Ovechkin, who was heavily criticized throughout the playoffs, became the only player in the decisive, seventh match of the series with “Pittsburgh” (0: 2), who finished the meeting with a usefulness of “minus 2 ″. After that, talks about the need to exchange Ovechkin from the club began with renewed vigor.

“People expect serious decisions from us. I think they look at some of the moments in his game and say:“ This is not permissible. ”But Ovechkin is a big part of our history, our organization, and so to say,“ Let's trade him for this or that? ” I don’t think this is reasonable at the moment. Maybe someday, if there is a decent compensation ... But I don’t think that we are not interested in this now. Ovechkin is an important part of Washington and he will remain so in the future, " general manager of “Washington” Brian McLellan.

“I don’t want to stay at the same level, I want to get better. trauma.

The season in the National Hockey League does not end - from June 18 to 21, an expansion draft will take place, during which Vegas joining the NHL will be able to select one player from each team in the league. The best hockey players of the season will be awarded on June 21 in Las Vegas, and then the next league draft will take place in Chicago on June 23-24.

Pittsburgh won the 2016/17 Stanley Cup by winning the sixth match of the final series "Nashville" with a score of 2: 0 (0: 0, 0: 0, 2: 0).

In the second period, the referee canceled the Predators 'clean goal due to his own mistake, the hosts missed several penalties, including 32 seconds with five of them against three opponents, and the Penguins' success brought Patrick Hernqvist's goal 1:35 before the end of the third period. The final score in the 60th minute was set by Karl Hagelin.

The hero of the match was Pittsburgh goalkeeper Matt Murray, who saved all 27 shots on his goal.

The score in the series was 4-2 in favor of Pittsburgh. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup for the fifth time in history (1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, 2017), and the Russian striker away Evgeny Malkin won the trophy for the third time in his career, becoming only the fourth Russian who managed to do this in the rank of a player (now he is on a par with Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Sergei Brylin).

Gino came close to winning a second Conn Smythe Trophy, but was overtaken by Sidney Crosby, who became only the sixth player in league history to win more than one Playoff Most Valuable Player award.

Pittsburgh became the first club in 20 years to win two consecutive championships.

NHL. Stanley Cup. The final

Nashville - Pittsburgh - 0: 2 (0: 0, 0: 0, 0: 2)

Goals: 0: 1 - Hernqvist (Schultz, Kunitz) - 58:25 (5x5), 0: 2 - Hagelin (Dumoulin) - 59:46 (en) Goalkeepers: Rinne - Murray Throws: 27 (8-11-8) - 29 (9-13-7)Fine: 0 - 8 (2-2-4)

2016/2017 years. The final was attended by the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators, respectively. The series kicked off on May 29 at Pittsburgh's home court and ended on June 11 with the Penguins' sixth win. For the first time in NHL history, both finalist head coaches are American. The Pittsburgh Penguins became the first club since 1997/1998 to win the Stanley Cup two years in a row.

The final series consists of a maximum of seven games and is played up to four wins, in a -D- -Y-D-Y-D format. The home court advantage goes to the top-ranked team in the league at the end of the regular season.

At the end of the regular season, Pittsburgh finished 2nd in the Metropolitan Division behind the Washington Capitals with 111 points.

In the first round, the Penguins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in five matches. In the next round, the President's Cup winner, the Washington Capitals, was beaten in seven matches. In the conference finals, the Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators in seven matches.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have entered the final for the second year in a row, making it the sixth ever final for the team. The club already has four Stanley Cups to its credit, the last of which was won in 2016.

In the 2016/2017 regular season, the Nashville Predators averaged 94 points, finished 4th in the Central Division and took their second wild card from the Western Conference.

In the first round of the playoffs, Nashville beat the Chicago Blackhawks in four games, beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 in the next round, and beat Anaheim Ducks ".

This final was the first for the Nashville Predators in the history of the club. In the previous three playoff rounds, Nashville have lost only one match at home.

In the eighth minute of the first period, Predators defender P-Kay Subban scored against Matt Murray, but the goal was canceled due to Philip Forsberg's offside position. In the 16th minute of the match, Evgeni Malkin converted a two-player majority and opened the scoring. 65 seconds later, Pittsburgh doubled the lead thanks to a goal from Conor Shiri, and 17 seconds before the end of the first period, the score was 3-0 in favor of the Penguins. In the second period, Ryan Ellis played one goal, scoring a goal in the majority. In the 51st minute of the match, Colton Sissons reduced the score to a minimum, and in less than 4 minutes Frederic Goudreau equalized the score. However, 3 minutes before the end of regular time, Jake Gentzel again takes Pittsburgh ahead, and Nick Bonino hits an empty net and sets the final score in the match - 5: 3 in favor of Pittsburgh. In the second period, Pittsburgh did not make a single shot at the opponent's goal, which was the first time in the history of the club in the playoffs. In total, the Penguins could not shoot at the Nashville goal for 37 minutes.

The score was opened in the middle of the first period by Nashville player Pontus Oberg. In the 17th minute of the match, Jake Gentzel managed to equalize the score. The second period did not bring any goals, and after the start of the third period, the Penguins scored three goals in a row within three and a half minutes and secured a victory in the match with a score of 4: 1. Pittsburgh forward Jake Gentzel has set a new NHL record for most rookie playoff victorious goals (5).

The third match of the series ended with the victory of “Nashville” with a score of 5: 1. The score was opened in the third minute of the first period by the Penguins player Jake Gentzel. In the second period, the Nashville Predators scored three goals and went for a break with the score 3: 1. In the third period, the Predators score twice more and reduce the score in the series to the minimum.

The score was opened by the hosts in the 15th minute of the first period, thanks to a goal by Kalle Jarnkruka. A minute later, the captain of the guests Sidney Crosby receives the puck on the blue line from Brian Dumoulin, goes 1 on 1 with the rival goalkeeper and compares the score in the match. In the second period, Nashville scores twice, and at the end of the third twenty minutes, Philip Forsberg hits the empty net of Pittsburgh and sets the final score of the match, 4-1 in favor of the Nashville Predators.

Pittsburgh is building a dynasty

What awaits Ovechkin?

“I don’t want to stay at the same level, I want to get better. trauma.