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2018 Stanley Cup Final AI simulator
(@2018 Stanley Cup Final_simulator)
Hub AI
2018 Stanley Cup Final AI simulator
(@2018 Stanley Cup Final_simulator)
2018 Stanley Cup Final
The 2018 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2017–18 season and the culmination of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals defeated the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights four games to one to win their first championship, in their 44th season. The Vegas Golden Knights made the Finals in their first season, while this was the second Finals appearance for the Capitals. This was the first Finals series since 2007 where neither team had previously won the Stanley Cup and the third consecutive year in which a Western Conference team made their Finals debut. This was the first Finals since 2014 to require fewer than six games, and the first since 2011 in which the eventual winner lost the first game. Washington captain Alexander Ovechkin was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
The series began on May 28 and ended on June 7. Having won the Pacific Division with 109 points during the regular season the Vegas Golden Knights had home ice advantage in the series while the Capitals won the Metropolitan Division with 105 points.
This was Washington's second Finals appearance; the Capitals were swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings in 1998.
The Capitals did not make many major offseason transactions with the exception of signing forward Devante Smith-Pelly. Major re-signings during the off-season included forwards T. J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Andre Burakovsky; and goalie Philipp Grubauer. Washington then re-signed Lars Eller during the season. The team was conservative during the trade deadline. Wanting to make a Stanley Cup run with the core players that they already had, they only acquired defencemen Michal Kempny from the Chicago Blackhawks and Jakub Jerabek from the Montreal Canadiens.
The Capitals finished the regular season with 105 points (49–26–7), winning their division. Left winger and team captain Alexander Ovechkin was the winner of this season's Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, leading the league with 49 regular-season goals. Kuznetsov led the team in assists with 56.
In the first round of playoffs, Washington came back from a 2–0 series deficit to win four in a row and beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games. The Capitals then won a six-game series against their division rival and two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, whom the Capitals had beaten in a playoff series only once in ten previous attempts since 1994; losing the last seven prior series to them. The Penguins had eliminated Washington from the playoffs in the second round the previous two years. Washington then defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games, winning game seven on the road for only the second time in franchise history and first since 2012.
Vegas became the first expansion team since the 1967–68 St. Louis Blues to make the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. However, the 1967–68 expansion was structured so that an expansion team was guaranteed to make the final. By contrast, the Golden Knights entered the season as long shots to make the postseason, let alone the Finals, with sources like Deadspin and Newsweek predicting that the Golden Knights would be among the worst teams in the league. However, the Golden Knights exceeded even the most optimistic projections to turn in one of the strongest debut seasons for an expansion team in North American professional sports history.
Las Vegas was awarded as the NHL's 31st franchise on June 22, 2016, to begin to play for the 2017–18 season. On April 13, 2017, the team announced the hiring of their inaugural head coach, Gerard Gallant. The team then participated in the 2017 NHL expansion draft on June 21, selecting an available player from all of the other 30 NHL teams. Some notable selections included goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who had won three Stanley Cups as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, winger James Neal from the Nashville Predators, and Jonathan Marchessault from the Florida Panthers. Fleury was left exposed by the Penguins because of the emergence of Matt Murray. The Panthers, who had salary cap issues, traded Reilly Smith to the Golden Knights in exchange for Vegas selecting Marchessault.
2018 Stanley Cup Final
The 2018 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2017–18 season and the culmination of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals defeated the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights four games to one to win their first championship, in their 44th season. The Vegas Golden Knights made the Finals in their first season, while this was the second Finals appearance for the Capitals. This was the first Finals series since 2007 where neither team had previously won the Stanley Cup and the third consecutive year in which a Western Conference team made their Finals debut. This was the first Finals since 2014 to require fewer than six games, and the first since 2011 in which the eventual winner lost the first game. Washington captain Alexander Ovechkin was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
The series began on May 28 and ended on June 7. Having won the Pacific Division with 109 points during the regular season the Vegas Golden Knights had home ice advantage in the series while the Capitals won the Metropolitan Division with 105 points.
This was Washington's second Finals appearance; the Capitals were swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings in 1998.
The Capitals did not make many major offseason transactions with the exception of signing forward Devante Smith-Pelly. Major re-signings during the off-season included forwards T. J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Andre Burakovsky; and goalie Philipp Grubauer. Washington then re-signed Lars Eller during the season. The team was conservative during the trade deadline. Wanting to make a Stanley Cup run with the core players that they already had, they only acquired defencemen Michal Kempny from the Chicago Blackhawks and Jakub Jerabek from the Montreal Canadiens.
The Capitals finished the regular season with 105 points (49–26–7), winning their division. Left winger and team captain Alexander Ovechkin was the winner of this season's Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, leading the league with 49 regular-season goals. Kuznetsov led the team in assists with 56.
In the first round of playoffs, Washington came back from a 2–0 series deficit to win four in a row and beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games. The Capitals then won a six-game series against their division rival and two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, whom the Capitals had beaten in a playoff series only once in ten previous attempts since 1994; losing the last seven prior series to them. The Penguins had eliminated Washington from the playoffs in the second round the previous two years. Washington then defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games, winning game seven on the road for only the second time in franchise history and first since 2012.
Vegas became the first expansion team since the 1967–68 St. Louis Blues to make the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. However, the 1967–68 expansion was structured so that an expansion team was guaranteed to make the final. By contrast, the Golden Knights entered the season as long shots to make the postseason, let alone the Finals, with sources like Deadspin and Newsweek predicting that the Golden Knights would be among the worst teams in the league. However, the Golden Knights exceeded even the most optimistic projections to turn in one of the strongest debut seasons for an expansion team in North American professional sports history.
Las Vegas was awarded as the NHL's 31st franchise on June 22, 2016, to begin to play for the 2017–18 season. On April 13, 2017, the team announced the hiring of their inaugural head coach, Gerard Gallant. The team then participated in the 2017 NHL expansion draft on June 21, selecting an available player from all of the other 30 NHL teams. Some notable selections included goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who had won three Stanley Cups as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, winger James Neal from the Nashville Predators, and Jonathan Marchessault from the Florida Panthers. Fleury was left exposed by the Penguins because of the emergence of Matt Murray. The Panthers, who had salary cap issues, traded Reilly Smith to the Golden Knights in exchange for Vegas selecting Marchessault.