Gabriel Landeskog experienced the biggest hockey moment of his life last night.
After a thrilling sixth final game against Tampa Bay Lightning, the Colorado Avalanche is the Stanley Cup champion.
Tampa Bay Lightning had won two straight Stanley Cup titles and were now in their third straight final. The Colorado Avalanche, on the other hand, had not played the final in 21 (!) Years, but they had some statistics to lean on.
First in 21 years
Colorado has never played the Stanley Cup final and has not won the title – and the incredible trend continues even after this year’s final. They played the sixth final on away ice, and also ended up at a disadvantage after only three minutes, after a goal by Steven Stamkos.
But this Colorado team has everything, including an incredible winning mentality. At the beginning of the second period, Gabriel Landeskog was noted for an assist point when Nathan MacKinnon equalized – and ten minutes later, the Finn Artturi Lehkonen scored the 2-1 goal. And Tampa would never succeed in rising. So it stopped at two straight Stanley Cup titles for Victor Hedman and the rest of the Tampa gang.
Landeskog’s happiness
Instead, incredible joy broke out for the Colorado Avalanche after 60 minutes of play, and they won their first title since Peter Forsberg’s days, 2001. Gabriel Landeskog has been team captain in Colorado since he was 19, and he was part of the team that came last in the entire NHL just six years ago. But now he finally got to rejoice, and be the one who received one of the most classic trophies in the entire sports world.
Landeskog was moved when he lifted the trophy to the sky and took it with him to his teammates, and the celebration on the ice never seemed to end. In addition to Gabriel Landeskog, André Burakovsky is also Stanley Cup champion, and he has a big part in that, as he was the one who decided the first final match in overtime.
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