Goalkeeper miracle: how 39 saves Khudobin helped Dallas beat Tampa in the fifth match of the Stanley Cup final

On the eve of the fifth meeting, "Dallas" had three defeats in a row.

Rick Bowness's side had a great start in the Stanley Cup final, but the leaders' problems in attack, as well as insecure defensive play allowed Tampa to seize the initiative and be on the verge of winning the trophy.

Numerous injuries and the need to play the next day after an offensive loss only worsened the situation for the Texans.

While Ben Bishop, Steve Jones and Radek Faksa have long been unable to help their partners, Blake Como and Rupe Hintz were eliminated during the confrontation with Lightning.

Despite this, the Stars managed to pull themselves together after a disappointing failure in the previous match and claim a major victory.

A distinctive feature of this match was the incredible discipline of the opponents.

The mentors demanded that their players act within the rules in order to minimize the number of penalties and deprive the opponent of the chance to realize the numerical superiority.

First of all, this concerned “Dallas”, in the last three meetings they conceded six times in the minority, and once in overtime.

As a result, only three players received a minor penalty, two of whom represented Tampa.

Tyler Seguin became one of the main characters in the first period.

In the fifth minute, he became the only Stars hockey player to go to the penalty box in the fifth game of the final, and then acted as assistant.

The Canadian turned out to be quicker than Mikhail Sergachev and managed to move the puck to a nickle, where Corey Perry turned out to be undisguised.

The 2007 Stanley Cup winner handled a pass with one touch and a compelling shot with the other.

Andrei Vasilevsky, although he reacted, could not save.

In the first period, “Tampa” acted in a more attacking manner and made ten shots at the goal of Anton Khudobin, and in the second, it increased the pace even more.

As a result, there were 14 attempts to punch the Russian goalkeeper at once, one of which was crowned with success.

The first link of the Lightning was again in the spotlight, demonstrating the incredible productivity of the playoffs.

Braden Point passed Nikita Kucherov, who covered the puck well with his body and brought Ondřej Palat to a rendezvous with the goalkeeper.

Cech made a spectacular turn and scored his 11th goal in the tournament.

This allowed him to bypass teammate Viktor Hedman and come out on to third place in the sniper race.

As for Kucherov, this program became the 26th for him in the current playoffs.

He repeated Wayne Gretzky's 1982/83 record and finished fifth in history for the number of passes in a single Stanley Cup.

Next in line is the achievement of Mario Lemieux 30 years ago.

Then the legendary forward of the Pittsburgh Penguins assisted his partners 28 times.

Kucherov has 33 (7 + 26) points in the playoffs, which is the second result in history among Russians, but also one of the best indicators in the NHL in the XXI century.

Over the past 20 years, only Evgeny Malkin managed to conquer this bar, and the last time 34 or more points in the Stanley Cup was scored by Joe Sakik (18 + 16) in 1996.

At the beginning of the third period, it might have seemed that Tampa Bay would not miss its own now and today, for the second time in history, will win the main NHL trophy.

In the fourth minute, the nominal owners managed to carry out a positional attack: Point passed Sergachev to the blue line, and he sent the puck into the lower right corner with a powerful click.

Kucherov and Chambers closed the review for Khudobin, who could not prevent the Russian defender from scoring for the first time in the final.

However, at the right moment, Dallas managed to find a weak spot in the Tampa defense and put the game into overtime.

John Cooper's wards suddenly became too imprudent to act on their dime, which led to the second conceded goal.

All the same Seguin brought John Klingberg to the shot, Vasilevsky coped, but the most experienced Ryan McDonagh left Pavelski uncovered.

The seasoned veteran took advantage of his chance and caught up with Point in the sniper race (both 13).

The meeting went into extra time.

There was too much at stake, so none of the opponents was going to go forward without looking back at the defense.

As a result, the teams spent one and a half overtime on the ice (almost 30 minutes of playing time), and one of the key factors was Khudobin's inspired play.

The Russian again reminded himself of a sample of the Vegas Golden Knights series and repeatedly saved his team.

At first, he did not allow Yanni Gurdu to outplay himself in close combat, and then reflected Hedman's powerful long-range throw.

If Khudobin played the most important role in defense, then the same Segin came to the fore in the attack.

One of the Stars' highest-paid hockey players again acted as an assistant and helped Perry with a double.

First, he brought Klingberg to the shock position, and then fought great on a penny.

Hedman and Rutta were in the role of extras, and Corey repeated the record of Igor Larionov.

The Canadian became the second player over 31 years old in history, who managed not only to excel in the playoffs more than once, but also to score a decisive goal in overtime.

“At such moments, you don't even think about how to maintain stamina.

This is the Stanley Cup Final.

This evening we had to either win or die.

This attitude, and in general, our team play was good.

We have a lot of guys who are ready to fight.

What we all want.

I scored the winning goal, but it could have been anyone.

What we all ask for.

So go out and decide the outcome of the match.

We believe in our strength in the locker room, and this is the most important thing.

Faith and resilience stay with us throughout the season, ”said Perry.

As a result, the trio of stars of the match were Perry, Seguin and Point, and Khudobin remained an unsung hero.

And this despite 39 saves, which helped him reach third place in NHL history in reflected shots in one playoff.

The Russian has 717 rescues, which is two more than the result of Tuukki Raska (715) in 2013.

Kirk McLean (761) and Tim Thomas (798) are in the lead.

At the same time, two other Russian legionnaires of Dallas did not perform as well.

Radulov spent 24 minutes 25 seconds on the ice and scored two throws and two power moves, and Denis Guryanov disturbed Vasilevsky three times in 18 minutes 15 seconds and extended the dry streak to five meetings.

“It's just fantastic.

I will say again: we would not be here without Dobby (Khudobin -

), just as they would not be here without Vasya (Vasilevsky -

).

Although we discussed this moment, after all, Khudobin played the third match in four days.

And so Anton told our goalkeeper coach Jeff Reese that he would like to play.

This once again shows that he is an amazing fighter.

Earlier, journalists asked me to evaluate his style of play, something like that.

Now, that doesn't mean anything.

The main thing is that Anton is a competitive guy who does everything possible to stop the puck.

He played in such a way that he gave us a chance to win.

It speaks volumes about his character and that he is ready to do anything for the success of the team, ”concluded Bowness.