Ex-QMJHLer Kulikov Helps Panthers Win Cup

Before tonight, Kulikov was already a proven winner with the QMJHL Championship winning Drummondville Voltigeurs, but he showed that poise tonight as he helped secure both his and Florida's first Stanley Cup.

Kulikov wasn't an offensive contributor for the Panthers this playoffs, drawing a blank in 22 games this playoffs, but when the Panthers needed him, he arrived.

In the second period of Game 7, Kulikov made a heroic block which denied the Oilers from a goal that would have given the Oilers the lead.

The puck would get retrieved by Carter Verhaeghe, who would move the puck up to to Sam Reinhart. Reinhart would enter the zone and launch it past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner. Kulikov would get credited with a block and a secondary assist on the play, single handedly saving the Oilers from taking the lead while simultaneously helping the Panthers secure the victory and the franchise's first Stanley Cup.

Notably, Panthers assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre was also a QMJHL alumni, winning his first cup as a coach and second total, as he won with the 1996 Avalanche as a player.

The QMJHL connection didn't end with the Stanley Cup finals, though. The Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup beating the Coachella Valley Firebirds 5-4 in overtime due to standout performances by Hendrix Lapierre, Jimmy Huntington and Pierrick Dube, the latter of which scored a hat trick.

Hendrix Lapierre scored the second goal of the game and Jimmy Huntington was able to nab an assist off of Dube's second goal of the game. The most interesting story line throughout this magical Bears run had to have been Dube's heroics. Though, before this series Dube was questionable after a stick up high in the Conference finals ended up fracturing his jaw and he lost six teeth. 

Dube reportedly also lost 10-12 pounds as he was unable to eat because of the injury. He sat out several games before coming back to will the Bears into the finals again with a goal in a 3-2 win in Game 7.

Meanwhile Hendrix Lapierre's 22 points across 20 games led to him winning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy for AHL playoff MVP. 

If not for "les trois," the Hershey Bears would not have won this game, nor potentially in the finals to begin with. This is the Bears 13th Calder Cup, the most in the AHL, and their second Cup in a row, after beating the Firebirds last year as well.