In recent years, the Russian goalkeeper in the composition is practically a guarantee of success for NHL clubs. Two titles in a row “Tampa” with Andrey Vasilevsky at the gate became a clear confirmation of this. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin has already won the Vezina Trophy in the current draw, and his colleague from the Lightning again made it to the Stanley Cup final. Very soon, Vasilevsky can become a three-time winner of the main trophy in club hockey.

The foundation for the glory of our hockey school across the ocean was laid by Nikolai Khabibulin in 2004. It was he who first won the Stanley Cup among Russian goalkeepers, although in the sixth match his Tampa was as close to failure as possible.

But the judges did not see the decisive puck at the gates of Nikolai. His ghostly save allowed Tampa to turn the game around!

Unexpected finalists

Tampa Bay took second place in the regular season in 2004, but almost no one bet on John Tortorella’s team in the playoffs. The main reason is not a single Stanley Cup in the history of the club and an inexperienced coach. John, nicknamed the Paper Italian, was only in his third year as an NHL head coach. Obviously, the 45-year-old specialist was inferior in experience to many participants in that draw.

However, the Lightning overcame the first two rounds easily, confidently beating the Islanders (4:1) and Montreal (4:0). In the conference final against Philadelphia, they had to choose the entire quota of games, but in the seventh game, thanks to Freddy Modin’s puck and Khabibulin’s reliable game, the Tortorella team secured the final.

In the decisive series, the club from Florida met with Calgary. The place of the “lights” in the final was even more surprising. En route to the final round, the team defeated Vancouver, President’s Cup winner Detroit, as well as San Jose. For Calgary, Jerome Iginla shone, and the team was also led by a young mentor, Darryl Sutter.

Goal phantom

The final series continued the trend of the previous round, where the Lightning alternately won and lost matches. By the sixth match, the score in the series was 3-2 in favor of Sutter’s team.

The next game could be the last in the series. “Calgary” in the home arena “Pengroot-Saddledom” by the middle of the third period was tied with “Tampa”. Nikolai Khabibulin and Mika Kiprusoff conceded two goals each in the second period. 7 minutes before the end of the regular time of the match, our winger Oleg Saprykin, in a fast break on the starboard side, leaves the defender and passes to the penny, where, after a rebound from Nikolai, the puck hits Martin Zhelina’s leg and ricochets into the goal.

Khabibulin instantly reacts, “shooting off” the right shield, and saves the team from an inevitable goal. The game continues. The referees and teams do not pay attention to this episode, but in the next pause on the replay it becomes obvious that the puck most likely crossed the goal line.

The arbitrators did not watch this episode, which caused criticism. But Khabibulin’s game at that moment was so confident that not a single judge had any questions. If the puck had been counted, then the score in the match would have become 3: 2 and, with a high degree of probability, Calgary would have won the series and the Stanley Cup.

Photo: © Jeff Mcintosh / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press

Evidence is not enough

The ESPN authority after the game referred to the fact that numerous television replays did not show for sure whether the puck completely crossed the goal line. To the credit of the losers, their coach also did not make a fuss:

– It must be persuasive. I watched the episode from two different angles, but they (the judges) don’t have another angle, so you can’t say that it’s a goal, ESPN quotes an upset Sutter after the match.

NHL operations director Colin Campbell echoed the Calgary coach:

– We looked from several angles, and only one showed the puck. But even from this angle, it was not clear whether she crossed the goal line … Evidence was not enough.

Unbeknownst to the Calgary at the time, however, was that this episode may have cost them the title. In the seventh match, Ukrainian Ruslan Fedotenko scored twice and brought victory to the Tortorella team. The Lights were then the second club in 33 years to lose the final, leading 3-2.

Lightning captain Dave Andreichuk won the Stanley Cup after 1,758 NHL games, and Nikolai Khabibulin became the first Russian goaltender to win the trophy:

– I knew Nikolai Khabibulin from Phoenix, when he was not in the best condition. He smoked a lot, drank liters of coffee. Now this is a completely different person. What he does on the ice is beyond my head. Nikolai is not just a great goalkeeper and the “backbone” of our team – he is a great athlete. This is one of the best athletes in modern sports, admitted Tortorella during that playoff.

Indeed, the rescue, which had a magical effect on the judges, was a turning point in the history of the club. Since then, the Lightning have won the Stanley Cup only with our goaltenders, Khabibulin and Vasilevsky. This season, Tampa have a chance to take him for the fourth time and again with the Russian in the gate.