Latest news with #Cup-clinching
Time of India
2 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Reliving the 25 most unforgettable Stanley Cup clinching moments in NHL history
Bobby Orr's airborne celebration (Credit: Le Studio du Hockey/Hockey Hall of Fame) Nothing in hockey compares to the sudden-death tension of a Cup-clinching overtime goal. The first ever came in 1933, when Bill Cook's OT winner gave the Rangers their first championship. Seven years later, Bryan Hextall's double-overtime dagger extended New York's glory. The 1950 Final saw Pete Babando become an unlikely hero. Scored in the second OT of Game 7 to crown Detroit, also modern eras have added to the lore, in 1996, Uwe Krupp's triple-overtime goal ended the longest Cup-clinching game in history. Patrick Kane's sneaky 2010 winner left even his teammates confused before celebrations erupted. Alec Martinez's 2014 rebound in double OT cemented the Kings' dynasty. These moments didn't just win championships; they became immortal. Goaltenders who stole the show when it mattered most Great goalies define legacies in Game 7s and elimination nights. Rookie Ken Dryden's 1971 Conn Smythe performance stunned Chicago, proving Montreal's faith in him was justified. Patrick Roy's 63-save masterpiece in 1996; a triple-OT shutout; showcased his clutch gene. Tim Thomas' 2011 shutout in Vancouver was a masterclass, stopping 37 shots to silence a hostile crowd. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Keep Your Home Efficient with This Plug-In elecTrick - Save upto 80% on Power Bill Learn More Undo Rookie Jordan Binnington's 2019 Game 7 brilliance ended St. Louis' 52-year drought, outdueling Boston's veterans. Even backups left marks; Cam Ward's 2006 Cinderella run earned him playoff MVP as Carolina triumphed. When the pressure peaked, these netminders delivered. NHL Unforgettable Moments Unexpected heroes who rose to the occasion The Stanley Cup has a way of turning role players into legends. In 2003, fourth-liner Mike Rupp scored his first playoff goal; the Cup winner; in New Jersey's Game 7 shutout. Ruslan Fedotenko, a quiet contributor, netted both goals in Tampa's tense 2004 clincher. Max Talbot, known for grit, scored both in Pittsburgh's 2009 Game 7 upset over Detroit. Lanny McDonald's 1989 storybook ending; a goal in his final game; etched his name in Flames lore. Bobby Nystrom, a checking-line forward, became an Islanders icon with his 1980 OT winner. These moments prove championships aren't just won by stars, but by those who seize their chance. From early pioneers like Cook and Hextall to modern icons like Kane and Binnington. These moments transcend eras, and they capture desperation, skill, and sheer will. Henri Richard's 1971 Game 7 rally, Bobby Orr's airborne celebration. And Jonathan Toews feeding Bryan Bickell for Chicago's 17-second comeback in 2013. Read more: Florida Man energy meets Canadian pride as Stanley Cup final becomes a battleground beyond the rink The Cup isn't just won; it's etched into history by those who refuse to let the moment overwhelm them. Whether through a goalie's brilliance, an underdog's grit, or a disputed call, these 25 snapshots remind us why hockey's ultimate prize carries such weight. Decades from now, new names will join this list; but the magic of a Cup-clinching moment will never fade.
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Oilers' Stuart Skinner has high praise for Panthers' Sergei Bobrovsky ahead of Cup Final
Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner had two thoughts when asked about going up against an 'older goalie' in the Florida Panthers' Sergei Bobrovsky for a second consecutive Stanley Cup Final. First, Bobrovsky is 'young' at 36 years old, said Skinner, who at 26 is 10 years Bobrovsky's junior. Second, the experience of going toe-to-toe with a surefire Hall of Famer over the course of a seven-game Cup Final series was 'amazing.' 'He's one of the best goalies in the world,' Skinner said. 'He's impressive. He skates well. Technically, I don't think there's much wrong with him in my perspective. He's exceptional.' But perhaps what stood out most to Skinner about Bobrovsky came after the series ended when the two shared a moment in the postgame handshake line following Florida's 2-1, Cup-clinching Game 7 victory. 'I remember in the lineup last year, just how kind he was to somebody who just lost,' Skinner said. 'Nothing but love to him.' The two will be back at it at 8 p.m. Wednesday from Edmonton's Rogers Place when puck drops on Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Bobrovsky has once again been his consistent self in the playoffs, posting a 2.11 goals-against average and .912 save percentage through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. He has three shutouts in 17 games — one in each round — and has held opponents to two goals or fewer in 11 of those 17 games. His 6.04 goals save above average according to Natural Stat Trick are the most among all goals this postseason. Skinner, meanwhile, had his share of rough outings to start the postseason. He was benched after getting shelled through the first two games of Edmonton's first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings and didn't get back in the net until Game 3 of the second round against the Vegas Golden Knights. He struggled in that game, too, before rounding into form. He posted back-to-back shutouts in Games 4 and 5 against Vegas to wrap up that series and then rebounded from a poor Game 1 in the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars to backstop the Oilers back to the Stanley Cup Final. Now, Skinner, just like the Oilers as a whole, is looking for a chance at redemption after coming so close to winning it all last year but falling just short. 'If I'm gonna be completely honest here, I thought I had put it away quick,' Skinner said, 'but definitely internally, there was something buried. That's kind of the easy way to do it. Instead of thinking about it, trying to process it, I kind of stuffed it down of it. It kind of bit me in the butt halfway through my summer last year, and then I was able to kind of look back at it and process it. Obviously didn't want it to eat at me more going into the season. Human nature.' Safe to say he's ready for Wednesday. 'We keep on moving forward,' Skinner said. 'We lose the Cup last year, and we're back here again being able to get that opportunity. That's nothing but just complete, complete excitement.'
Winnipeg Free Press
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Shades of '23, Oilers clash with Golden Knights again in second round
A quick look at the second-round NHL playoff series between the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights that starts Tuesday with Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena: PLAYOFF HISTORY The Golden Knights won a second-round series in six games in their last and only playoff meeting with the Oilers in 2023, when Vegas went on to lift the Stanley Cup. Leon Draisaitl scored four goals for Edmonton in a 6-4 loss in Game 1. The Knights retain 15 players from their Cup-winning lineup. Edmonton carries 15 from the roster that lost Game 7 to the Florida Panthers in last year's Cup final. SEASON SERIES Split 2-2-0 with Edmonton outscoring Vegas 11-10. The Oilers scored three times in the second period of a 3-2 victory in their last meeting, April 1, when captain Connor McDavid was scratched with an undisclosed injury. BIG GUNS Edmonton's McDavid and Draisaitl combined for five goals and 21 assists in the first round. Thomas Hertl, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone totalled six goals and eight assists between them for Vegas. Eichel led the Golden Knights in the 2023 ouster of the Oilers with three goals, six assists and a plus-9 rating in six games. BIG MINUS The Oilers are still without defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who sat out the first round with an undisclosed injury. Ekholm is the unflappable linchpin on the back end, both even strength and on special teams. He's also the insurance policy when defence partner Evan Bouchard jumps up on offence. Golden Knights' leading scorer and 35-goal man Pavel Dorofeyev is said to be day-to-day with an undisclosed injury sustained in a Game 5 overtime win over the Wild. Victor Olofsson plugged in for Dorofeyev on the top power-play unit. IN GOAL Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Knoblauch was cagey about his goaltending situation Monday, but if he goes with Calvin Pickard, Vegas netminder Adin Hill is by far the more experienced at a career 16-8 in the post-season, including the Cup-clinching game in 2023. Was named to Canada's 4 Nations Face-Off roster, but didn't play. Pickard took over for Stuart Skinner in the first round to go 4-0 for a career 5-1. Pickard stopped 20 shots in the April 1 win over the Knights. X FACTORS With three goals and two assists in the first round, bottom-six forward Connor Brown provides depth scoring the Oilers need when McDavid and Draisaitl get all the attention from the opposing defence. Brett Howden averaged just under 13 minutes a game in the first round for Vegas, but scored three goals on 10 shots, including the OT winner in Game 5, and was plus-1. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2025.
New York Times
07-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Which of Wayne Gretzky's other NHL records could be broken?
Alex Ovechkin finally did it. On Sunday afternoon on Long Island, the Washington Capitals star broke Wayne Gretzky's record to become the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer with 895. It was a record that once felt out of reach, like most of Gretzky's career marks. Perusing through the career stats of 'The Great One' can be dizzying. The numbers are often outlandish compared to his peers, with seemingly no realistic chance of anyone matching them. Advertisement It's what makes Ovechkin's accomplishment so impressive. It also begs the question: Are any of Gretzky's other significant NHL records in danger of being broken? He owns well over 50. Some are relatively obscure — most assists in a road game — and won't be discussed here. And most are well out of reach from today's players, especially in an era with far fewer goals than when Gretzky played. We decided to put some of his more interesting records into tiers based on how likely someone is to break them, starting with the most likely to be passed. Most goals, including playoffs: 1,016 Ovechkin is currently at 967, and needs 50 more goals to break this record. It feels attainable if he returns for at least another season, especially if the Capitals go on a deep playoff run this year. Ovechkin already has two postseasons with double-digit goals (11 in 2008-09 and 15 when he won the Cup and Conn Smythe in 2017-18). If he has another run close to that, followed by a strong 2025-26, it's reachable. Most points in a single postseason: 47 Gretzky's 17-goal, 30-assist run in 1984-85 is the most impressive postseason in league history, but it's not completely out of reach for today's scorers. Connor McDavid just posted 42 points in last year's run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point registered 34 and 33, respectively, as teammates in 2021. It's highly unlikely anyone will top Gretzky's 47-point mark in the 18 games it took him to do it, but if an elite scorer goes on a deep run with multiple lengthy series, this record is within reach. Most points in a single Stanley Cup Final series: 13 McDavid nearly reached this mark a season ago, with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in seven games against the Florida Panthers. That was tied for the seventh-highest Cup Final point total of all time. Advertisement The year before, Mark Stone had nine points against Florida in only five Cup Final games, aided by a hat trick in the Cup-clinching Game 5. While it won't be easy, this record is certainly attainable. Most career playoff goals: 122 Ovechkin is the active leader, but he has only scored 72 career playoff goals. He is primed to add to that this season, with the Capitals inching toward locking up home-ice advantage in the East, but Ovechkin's career high for goals in a single playoff run is only 15 and as well as he's fended off Father Time to this point, he doesn't have that many runs left. Crosby is right behind Ovechkin with 71 career playoff goals despite not playing a playoff game in three years (and counting). The player with the best chance of chasing Gretzky down may be Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, who has scored 48 in 12 seasons. MacKinnon is only 29, and has averaged 0.55 goals per game in the postseason (compared to Gretzky's 0.59). It would require quite a few deep runs by the Avalanche, but it's not impossible. Most Art Ross Trophy wins: 10 Gretzky won seven-straight Art Ross trophies as the league's points leader from 1980 to 1987. Those alone would make him the all-time leader, but he added three more over his next seven seasons. The active leader is McDavid, with five Art Ross trophies in his 10 NHL seasons. He's two behind where Gretzky was at this point in his career, but this feels like a record that could be broken at some point. Most goals in a single season: 92 When Auston Matthews scored 69 last season, it was the first time someone came within 25 goals of Gretzky's single-season record in nearly three decades. Even Matthews' amazing season fell well short, but the current landscape in scoring suggests this record isn't unbreakable. Advertisement The league-wide save percentage has dropped for 10 consecutive years, plummeting from .915 in 2015-16 to the current average of only .900. That's still quite far from the .873 league average in 1981-82 (the year Gretzky set the record), but we're leaving the door open for this one. Most Hart Trophy wins: 9 McDavid and Ovechkin lead all active players with three Hart trophies each. With the amount of talent and parity in the NHL these days, it feels unlikely anyone will ever approach Gretzky's number. Most career assists: 1,963 This number is so ridiculous that it's difficult to comprehend. Ron Francis sits in second place with 1,249. The active leader in assists is Sidney Crosby, but he is still 903 behind Gretzky. Crosby's career high for a single season is 84 assists, in his second NHL season. He would need to replicate that 11 more seasons to catch Gretzky. Most career assists, including playoffs: 2,223 Read above. The already Grand Canyon-sized chasm between Gretzky and the rest of the hockey world is even wider here. Most assists in a single season: 163 When it comes to the most assists in a single season, Gretzky doesn't just hold the top spot. He holds the top seven spots, and 11 of the top 12. Only two other players — Mario Lemieux in 1988-89 and Bobby Orr in 1970-71 — have registered more than 100 assists in a season. Gretzky did it 11 times. McDavid and Kucherov are the only active players to reach triple digits. Both registered exactly 100 assists last season, but that is a long way from Gretzky's mark. Most career points: 2,857 This record is even less attainable than the career assists records. Jaromir Jagr is second behind Gretzky, by nearly 1,000 points. Crosby (1,682) and Ovechkin (1,619) aren't even 60 percent of the way there. To put it in perspective, McDavid has 1,072 points in his 10th NHL season, so he would need to hit the 100-point mark every year for the next 17 years, and then have an 86-point season after that, to pass Gretzky. Advertisement Most points in a single season: 215 Gretzky is the only player to reach 200 points in a season, and he's done it five times. McDavid's miraculous 153-point season in 2022-23 was the only time a player has cracked the top-20 on this all-time leaderboard since 1996, so this record feels pretty secure. McDavid's 1.87 points per game that season pale in comparison to Gretzky's 2.69 in 1985-86. Most career short-handed goals: 73 The active leader in career short-handed goals is Brad Marchand, but he has only 36 in 16 seasons. Marchand, who turns 37 next month, is running out of years, so who is the next most likely chaser? Considering age and career shorties, Carolina's Sebastian Aho is probably the answer. The 27-year-old has scored 20 short-handed goals in nine NHL seasons. The problem, is when comparing his pace to Gretzky's, the Great One had already scored 55 shorties by the time he was 27. Longest consecutive point-scoring streak: 51 games No one has come close to Gretzky's record since Lemieux's 46-game point streak in 1989-90, but we've had a few lengthy streaks in recent years. Patrick Kane's 26-game streak in 2015-16 is the 11th-longest all time, and the longest since 1993. Mitch Marner scored in 23 consecutive games just a couple years ago for the Maple Leafs. That's the closest anyone has come to Gretzky's mark in the last three decades. Most career hat tricks: 50 It's a bit surprising how far behind this number Ovechkin is, considering he's catching Gretzky in most of the other goal-related records. Ovechkin's 32 career hat tricks are by far the most by any active player, but he won't catch Gretzky. The next-closest active player is Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak, who has 19 hat tricks in 11 NHL seasons. If Ovechkin couldn't approach Gretzky's mark, it seems unlikely anyone will. (Photo of Wayne Gretzky: Mike Powell / Getty Images)
New York Times
04-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Alex Ovechkin 2 goals from breaking Wayne Gretzky's record after scoring vs. Blackhawks
WASHINGTON — Lars Eller, all told, has played more than 600 games with Alex Ovechkin. Not as a passenger, either. Not by happenstance. In 2018, a bit before Ovechkin collected the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs, Eller scored the Cup-clinching goal. This is a man who knows of which he speaks. And on Friday, when discussing Ovechkin's remarkable chase of what once seemed to be an unbreakable NHL record, he was finished with hypotheticals. Advertisement 'There's no question of 'if,'' Eller said. 'It's a question of 'when.'' A few hours later, Ovechkin got a little closer to the answer, scoring career goal No. 893 against the Chicago Blackhawks and putting himself two away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894 with six more games remaining in the regular season. Ovechkin wasted no time, scoring his 40th goal of the season 3:52 into the first period from the slot to beat Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight. The sequence was another finishing kick from the 39-year-old who has scored in four consecutive games, turning a big ask into a coin flip, and now, nearly, a fait accompli. The goal was also his first scored in front of Capitals fans since March 30. In the days since, things have changed. Gretzky was in attendance at Capital One Arena, as were NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and plenty of family members and several former teammates, including Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and Brooks Orpik. As rowdy as things were when Ovechkin scored No. 891 in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, Friday night was something else entirely. 'It's great,' Ovechkin said before the game. '(Gretzky has) been supportive all the time to me. It's a fun time right now. … Obviously, I miss (Backstrom) on the ice, but it's nice to have him around. (Oshie), all of them.' They, like Eller, know that history is close — and they won't have to wait long, or travel far, for his next attempt. The Capitals play the New York Islanders on Sunday at UBS Arena. After that, it's back to Washington for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, followed by a home-and-home next weekend against the Columbus Blue Jackets (including Washington's home finale), another road game against the Islanders on April 15 and Game 82 in Pittsburgh on April 17. For now, the road show continues. Ovechkin is clearly embracing it — and his youngest teammate is, too. Advertisement 'Not a lot of guys get to say that they're in these shoes right now,' Ryan Leonard said of the spectacle on Friday morning. '(I'm) not trying to take a moment for granted and just have fun with all of it.' It was a nice bit of perspective from a three-game NHL veteran. Leonard was playing for Boston College last week before joining the Capitals. He's not alone in his sentiments. The Caps, if nothing else, seem like they're enjoying the ride. 'I think it adds a little extra flavor to the season. I think it's fun to be part of and fun to see,' Eller said. 'It's just a question of time.'
