Game 6 of the final series will take place in Nashville on Sunday, with the Penguins on the verge of winning their second straight Stanley Cup. However, this does not mean that Nashville has no chance to take the title themselves: in this playoffs, the team won nine home matches out of ten 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 that took place, the finale is still far from over. So far, neither team has lost a home match, and Nashville generally has the most impressive track record on its ice among all playoff participants. However, the unpredictability of plots, which sometimes surface during matches, does not allow us to say anything with certainty.
In five matches of the final, home teams won five matches with a total score of 24:6. The Predators beat Pittsburgh in two games with a total score of 9:2, where only one goal was scored into an empty net.
How will Nashville respond to the defeat in Game 5?
The defeat with a score of 0:6 in the fifth game was one of the biggest during the 2017 playoffs. Earlier, Edmonton lost with a score of 0:7 to San Jose, and Anaheim lost to the same Edmonton - 1:7. Finally, “Ottawa” was destroyed by “Pittsburgh” (0:7). The losers managed to take revenge in the next fight.
Will Nashville be fourth? The team really believes in this, although they understand that the reasons for the defeat in the fifth meeting did not lie in luck or individual mistakes that changed the course of the game.
“I think this is the first time in the whole final that we were really outplayed,” Laviolette said. “It happened that they had a chance, then a second, a third, and sometimes a fourth. They managed to damage us. We will need to play much tighter."
Pittsburgh in the finals
The Penguins have won the Stanley Cup four times. newest era The NHL won the title every time in away games.
In 1991, they beat Minnesota (4-2), in 1992, the team did not give up a single game to Chicago, in 2009, they beat Detroit in game 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 too much if the scenario repeats itself again in 2017.
However, only in one case out of four (in the series with the Blackhawks in 1992) were the Penguins able to win the championship as quickly as possible. In all the rest, Pittsburgh was one victory short and the series, albeit not for long, dragged on. Exactly a year ago, the club led 3-1 in the final and played match No. 5 on its ice, but was forced to fly to California again for the sixth meeting.
"We expect to face a desperate team on Sunday. We will need best game, which we are only capable of. Perhaps it will help us that on the road you often simplify your hockey,” said captain Sidney Crosby.
Penguins stars will be key to victory
The fifth game of the finals fully demonstrated what the Penguins are capable of on a day when their stars Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and reigning Art Ross Trophy winner Crosby are playing. The three scored eight points: Malkin had a goal and an assist, Kessel had a goal and two assists, and Crosby had an assisted hat trick.
The Pittsburgh captain had his second very strong performance 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 nearly impossible to beat the Penguins when all three of them are flying around the field, so they'll pay special attention to their guarding.
Ellis' participation is questionable
One of the leaders of the Predators' defense, Ryan Ellis, left the ice during the fifth game and did not participate in Saturday's training, which, however, was voluntary. “Nashville” is in no hurry to disclose any details of the damage, and as of Saturday evening his participation in the sixth meeting was in question.
If the Canadian defenseman still does not take to the ice, Matt Irwin will probably take his place alongside Josi. For the Predators, it will be difficult to make up for this loss, as Ellis averaged 23 minutes of ice time during the playoffs.
The most significant loss for Pittsburgh remains center Nick Bonino, who was forced out with a leg injury early in the finals. On Saturday, Bonino missed the team's ice session again. His participation in Sunday's meeting is almost certainly ruled out.
Based on materials
MOSCOW, June 12 - R-Sport, Semyon Galkevich. Hockey players" Pittsburgh Penguins" achieved victory over the Nashville Predators in the sixth game of the Stanley Cup finals and for the second year in a row (fifth time in history) won the most prestigious trophy in North American hockey. For the first time since 1998, the Stanley Cup winner managed to defend the title.
On Sunday, Pittsburgh scored two unanswered goals against Nashville, making the series score 4-2 (5:3, 4:1, 1:5, 1:4, 6:0, 2:0). Pittsburgh previously won the Stanley Cup in 1991, 1992, 2009 and 2016.
The Penguins became the seventh NHL team to have track record at least five championship titles along with Montreal (24), Toronto (13), Detroit (11), Boston (6), Chicago (6) and Edmonton (5). On the way to the final, Pittsburgh beat Columbus (4-1 in the series), Washington (4-3) and Ottawa (4-3). The winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, the most valuable player of the playoffs, for the second time in a row was Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby.
Forward Evgeni Malkin finished fourth Russian player, who won 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
Pittsburgh's hockey players opened the series with two home victories with a score of 5:3 and 4:1, but Nashville, which played excellently on its ice throughout the playoffs (the team suffered its only defeat from Anaheim in overtime in the semifinal series match) , more than confidently responded to the “penguins” - victories with a score of 5:1 and 4:1. Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne after Game 4 tied Antti Niemi for the most NHL playoff wins for a Finnish goalie (36).
The fifth game took place with the Penguins having a complete advantage and ended with a crushing score of 6:0. Malkin scored his 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 goalie Matt Murray, who missed the first two rounds, became the second goalkeeper in Penguin history to play "to zero" in the final series.
“We just blew the start of the game. We have to give Pittsburgh their due, it’s like they took a page out of our textbook,” Nashville leader P.K. Subban commented on the crushing defeat. “They started throwing pucks behind the defensemen, played great on the forecheck, created chances and used them well."
In the sixth game of the finals, the Predators suffered their first defeat in regulation time at home in the entire playoffs and lost their chances for the championship title. It should be noted that for Nashville, reaching the finals itself is highest achievement in the club's 19-year history. The club had never even played in the conference finals before.
The top scorer in the NHL playoffs was Malkin, who scored 28 (10 goals + 18 assists) points, his teammate Jake Guentzel became the top sniper with 13 goals. Malkin previously became top scorer(36 points) and passer (22 assists) in the 2009 playoffs. 22-year-old Guentzel repeated the league record among rookies for points scored in the playoffs - 21 (13+8). Previously, the same number was scored by Dino Cissarelli (14+7) in 1981 and Ville Leino (7+14) in 2010.
What's next for Ovechkin?
It was Pittsburgh that for the second year in a row stood in the way of Washington's Alexander Ovechkin, who also won the President's Cup, awarded to the winner of the NHL regular season, for the second year in a row. The Capitals dream of the Stanley Cup every year, but in fact, over the previous 11 seasons that Alexander Ovechkin has been on the team, they have never made it past the second round. This did not happen even on the 12th attempt - in the first round, Washington beat Toronto, after which the team was knocked out of the playoffs by Pittsburgh.
Ovechkin, who was fairly criticized throughout the playoffs, became the only player in the decisive, seventh game of the series with Pittsburgh (0:2), who finished the meeting with a utility rating of minus 2. After which, talk about the need to exchange Ovechkin from the club began with renewed vigor.
"People are looking to us for big decisions. I think they look at certain things in his game and say, 'This is unacceptable.' But Ovechkin is a big part of our history, our organization, and to say, 'Let's trade him for this or that?' I don't think this is wise at the moment. Maybe someday, if there is decent compensation... But I don’t think that now we are not interested. Ovechkin is an important part of Washington and will remain so in the future,” said Washington general manager Brian McLellan.
“I don’t want to stay at the same level, I want to become better. This summer I need to work harder to achieve success and win the Stanley Cup,” said Ovechkin himself, who for the first time since 2009 did not come to the Russian national team to participate in the World Cup due to injury.
The season in the National Hockey League does not end - from June 18 to 21, the expansion draft will be held, during which Vegas, which is entering 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, followed by the next league draft on June 23-24 in Chicago.
"Pittsburgh" won the Stanley Cup for the 2016/17 season, winning the sixth game of the final series "Nashville" with the score 2:0 (0:0, 0:0, 2:0).
In the second period, the referee, due to his own error, canceled a clean goal by the Predators, the hosts missed several penalties, including 32 seconds with five against three opponents, and the Penguins’ success came with a goal from Patric Hernqvist 1:35 before the end of the third period. The final score was set by Carl Hagelin in the 60th minute.
The hero of the match was Pittsburgh goalkeeper Matt Murray, who stopped all 27 shots on his own goal.
The score in the series became 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 visiting Russian forward Evgeniy Malkin won the trophy for the third time in his career, becoming only the fourth Russian to do so as a player (now he is on a par with Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Sergei Brylin).
"Gino" came close to winning his second Conn Smythe Trophy, but was passed at the finish line by Sidney Crosby, who became just the sixth player in league history to win more than one playoff MVP award.
Pittsburgh became the first team in 20 years to win two consecutive championships.
NHL. Stanley Cup. 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)
Stanley Cup - National Playoffs hockey league. In the 2016-2017 NHL season, the 2017 Stanley Cup starts on April 12 and ends until mid-June.
Traditionally, the NHL playoffs consist of four rounds, where the conference champions are determined in the third, and the Stanley Cup winner is determined in the fourth.
Stanley Cup 2017: who's playing
There are 16 teams competing for the Stanley Cup - eight each from the Western and Eastern conferences. Since 2014, three are guaranteed to make the playoffs best teams from each of the four NHL divisions, so it is far from certain that the eight clubs with the most points in their conferences end up in the eights.
In case of equality of points, additional indicators are taken into account. The first is the number of victories in regular time and overtime. The second is the number of points scored in face-to-face meetings commands If these indicators are not enough, then the total difference between goals scored and goals missed is taken into account.
In each round of the Stanley Cup, series last up to four victories. The format is 2-2-1-1-1, that is, the first two meetings are at the site of the team seeded higher, then two at home to the “weaker” team, and then the clubs take turns hosting each other. Matches five through seven are played if the previous matches were not enough to determine who will advance. The winning team advances to the next round, the losing team ends the season.
In the first two rounds, division winners have an advantage in forming the bracket, but from the third round, the club that scored more points in the regular season will be higher in the bracket - even if in the previous rounds it was lower in the bracket. In the Stanley Cup finals, home court advantage is given to the team that had more points in the regular season.
In the early years, the Stanley Cup was not integral part NHL: along with this league, representatives of another American fought for it hockey championships. However, by 1926, all NHL competitors had closed, and the Stanley Cup began to be played only by its teams, and in 1947 it officially became part of the NHL season.
Stanley Cup - the most titled clubs
The most titled club in the history of the Stanley Cup is the Montreal Canadiens, they have won the trophy 24 times. The Toronto Maple Leafs have 13 wins, the Detroit Red Wings have 11, Boston and Chicago have 6 each, Edmonton has won 5 times, the Rangers, Islanders and Pittsburgh have won four times. "
2016/2017. The finals featured the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators, respectively. The series began on May 29 at Pittsburgh's home court and ended on June 11 with the Penguins' victory in game six. For the first time in NHL history, both head coaches of the finalist teams are Americans. The Pittsburgh Penguins became the first team since the 1997/1998 season to win the Stanley Cup two years in a row.The final series consists of a maximum of seven games and is played until four wins, in the format -D- -G-D-G-D. The team finishing highest in the league at the end of the regular season receives home court advantage.
At the end of the regular season, Pittsburgh took 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division after the Washington Capitals, scoring 111 points.
In the first round, the Penguins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in five games. In the next round, the President's Cup winner, the Washington Capitals, was defeated in seven games. In the conference finals, the Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators in seven games.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are participating in the finals for the second year in a row, and this was the sixth final for the team in history. The club already has four Stanley Cups to its name, the last of which was won in 2016.
In the 2016/2017 regular season, the Nashville Predators scored 94 points, took 4th place in the Central Division and received a second wild card from Western Conference.
In the first round of the playoffs, Nashville defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in four matches, in the next round they beat the St. Louis Blues with a score of 4-2, and in the Western Conference finals the Predators won with the same score against Anaheim Ducks."
This final was the first for the Nashville Predators in the club's history. In the previous three rounds of the playoffs, Nashville had lost only one game at home.
Eight minutes into the first period, Predators defenseman P.K. Subban scored a goal against Matt Murray, but the goal was disallowed due to Filip Forsberg being offside. In the 16th minute of the match, Evgeni Malkin converted a two-player power play and opened the scoring in the match. 65 seconds later, Pittsburgh doubled the lead thanks to a goal from Conor Sheary, and 17 seconds before the end of the first period, the score in the match became 3:0 in favor of the Penguins. In the second period, Ryan Ellis pulled one goal back, scoring on the power play. In the 51st minute of the match, Colton Sissons reduced the score to a minimum, and less than 4 minutes later Frederic Goudreau equalized the score. However, 3 minutes before the end of regulation time, Jake Guentzel again puts Pittsburgh ahead, and Nick Bonino hits the 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 happened for the first time in the club's history in the playoffs. In total, the Penguins were unable to shoot on Nashville's goal for 37 minutes.
The scoring in the match was opened in the middle of the first period by Nashville player Pontus Oberg. In the 17th minute of the match, Jake Guentzel 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 victory in the match with a score of 4:1. Pittsburgh forward Jake Guentzel set new record NHL most winning playoff goals scored among rookies (5).
Nashville's victory with a score of 5:1 ended the third match of the series. The scoring in the match was opened in the third minute of the first period by Penguins player Jake Guentzel. In the second period, the Nashville Predators scored three goals and went into the break with the score 3:1. In the third period, the Predators scored twice more and reduced the score in the series to a minimum.
The hosts opened the scoring in the match in the 15th minute of the first period, thanks to a goal by Kalle Jarnkruk. A minute later, visiting captain Sidney Crosby receives the puck on the blue line from Brian Dumoulin, goes 1 on 1 with the opposing goalkeeper and equalizes the score in the match. In the second period, Nashville scored twice, and at the end of the third twenty minutes, Filip Forsberg hit the empty goal of Pittsburgh and established the final score of the match, 4:1 in favor of the Nashville Predators.
