VIDEO The long wait is a thing of the past: Colorado fights for the Stanley Cup! – Športky.sk

Colorado hockey players made it to the Stanley Cup final Source: SITA / Amber Bracken / The Canadian Press via AP EDMONTON – Colorado hockey players made it to the Stanley Cup final after 21 years. They decided on their progress in the fourth duel of the NHL Western Conference finals, in which they won on the Edmonton ice 6: 5 after extra time and triumphed 4-0 in the entire series. The author of the winning goal of Avalanche was Finn Artturi Lehkonen in the second minute of extra time, the defender Cale Makar scored five points (1 + 4). Colorado succeeded in a fierce shootout, in which they led 1: 0, lost 1: 3 and 2: 4 and won 5: 4 less than four minutes before the end. Zack Kassian took care of the settlement in the time of 56:38. The decisive moment came in the 62nd minute, when Calea Makara’s shot from the blue line swerved in the air Lehkonen, the oilers goalkeeper Mike Smith kicked the puck only in front of him and the Finnish striker arrived at the goal. The goal had to be taken by the video referee, as the home team claimed a game with a raised stick. “Puck bounced off my goalie and it was no longer a problem to score a goal,” Lehkonen told nhl.com, who scored in overtime in the semifinals last year. Lehkonen then decided the sixth game of the series with Vegas and sent Montreal to the final of the playoffs. Makar took part in the triumph of the guests with a goal and four assists, Lehkonen added two assists to the winning shot and the captain of Colorado Gabriel Landeskog also finished with the same 1 + 2 balance. Our team has a morale of “Olejar” not even two goals by Zach Hyman, Connor McDavid scored a goal and two assists and Leon Draisaitl four assists. “I liked our team’s approach. We didn’t give up, even though we lost 0 to 3. We had a good start. It’s a good sign that our team has morale in the future,” said Edmonton captain Connor McDavid. Photo gallery (5) Source: SITA / Amber Bracken / The Canadian Press via AP Up to six goals were scored in the wild third period. “We wanted to go further, although few expected us to be here. Now we feel disappointed, but I’m proud of our team. We have to prepare well for the new season, now we understand how difficult it is to win,” added Draisaitl, who, despite the obvious he finished the match with self-denial due to a health problem and again prepared goal actions for his teammates with his overview. The German striker is at the top of the playoff statistics with 25 assists, with 32 points he is just behind McDavid in productivity (33). Pavel Francouz appeared again in the Avalanche goal, catching 30 of the opponent’s shots. After the injury, Darcy Kuemper got in order, but so far he only covered the back of the Czech goalkeeper. Colorado was missing an injured striker Nazem Kadri, the Oilers had to do without Evander Kane, who was penalized for one game just after the operation, after which he eliminated Kadri from the game. “I’m proud of the boys. We didn’t play well, especially in the second period we made a lot of mistakes and the opponent took advantage of it. But then we played our game, we showed great resilience and I’m glad we did it,” said “avalanche” coach Jared Bednar. Makar made history Makar became the first defender in NHL history to score five points in a series playoff game. Only two skaters were better at this than he was. Wayne Gretzky scored seven points in the Oilers jersey in 1985 and Josh Anderson (Hartford Whalers) six years later. Makar also equaled the Avalanche / Quebec Nordiques club record in points in one playoff game. Peter Forsberg (1998) and Risto Siltanen (1987) achieved the same piece before him. The Denver club advanced to the finals in 1996 and 2001, winning the Stanley Cup each time. On the way to the final, the Avalanche players swept Nashville in the first round (4: 0), then eliminated St. Louis (4: 2) and without losing the match sent the Oilers home. Now, in the fight for the championship trophy, they will meet the winner of the final series of the Eastern Conference, in which New York Rangers lead over the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning with Slovak defender Erik Cernak 2: 1 in matches. The crash of Edmonton at the gates of the final means that the Canadian team will not win the Stanley Cup again. The last club from the country of the “maple leaf” to win the famous cup was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. fourth match of the Western Conference final: Edmonton Oilers – Colorado Avalanche 5: 6 pp (0: 1, 3: 0, 2: 4 – 0 : 1)
Goals: 28. Hyman (Draisaitl, Nurse), 37. Nugent-Hopkins, 39. McDavid (Draisaitl, Barrie), 44. Hyman (Draisaitl, McDavid), 57. Kassian (Draisaitl, McDavid) – 4. Makar (Lehkonen) , 41. Toews (Landeskog, Makar), 49. Landeskog, 54. MacKinnon (Lehkonen, Makar), 55. Rantanen (Makar, Landeskog), 62. Lehkonen (Makar, Helm). Goalkeepers: Smith – Frenchman, shots on goal: 35:42, 18,347 spectators.
/ final state of the series: 0: 4, Colorado advanced to the playoff finals / Photo gallery for the article Number of photos: 5 Author: © Zoznam VIDEO: nhl.com Source: TASR