06/09/2023 – CanucksBanter

By Martin MERK|IIHF

Canada Leads IIHF Mens’s World Ranking

After having won gold at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, Canada moves up to first place in the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Ranking, overtaking second-ranked Finland.

The IIHF World Ranking takes into consideration the performances during the past four years at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and the Olympic Winter Games, and is calculated on an annual basis to determine the seedings of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, the Olympic ice hockey tournaments and qualification.

Russia and the United States remain in third and fourth place respectively while Germany is the big winner among the top nations. After having earned the silver medals at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, the Germans improved from ninth to fifth place.

Since the introduction of the IIHF World Ranking in 2004, the Germans have never ranked higher than fifth place, which they also held in 2021.

Sweden drops down one place to sixth while Switzerland remains seventh. Czechia lost two spots and comes in eighth place, the country’s lowest IIHF Men’s World Ranking position ever. Slovakia goes down one position to ninth while bronze medallist Latvia climbs up by one position to complete the top-10 at the expense of Denmark.

The 2023 IIHF Men’s World Ranking includes a record number of 58 countries following the return of Mongolia and the first-time participation of Indonesia.

Canada also leads IIHF Women’s World Ranking

Canada does not only lead in men’s but also in women’s ice hockey. Despite the loss in the recent 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship gold medal game to the United States, Canada defends first place but the point margin to the United States has decreased.

It’s the first time since 2015 that Canada, or any nation, has led both the Men’s and Women’s World Ranking in the same year.

Switzerland moves up to third place at the expense of Finland while Czechia comes in fifth place swapping positions with Russia. It’s the highest position ever for the Czechs, who became historic back to back bronze medal winners last month.

Since the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship program hasn’t been completed yet – the Division I Group A in Shenzhen, China will take place from 20 to 26 August – the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Ranking hasn’t been released yet. However, the top-10 countries of the ranking have already become known:

For more information on the Men’s and Women’s world rankings, click HERE

Source: IIHF

Adin Hill #33 of the Vegas Golden Knights allows the game-winning goal by Carter Verhaeghe #23 of the Florida Panthers during the first overtime period as Matthew Tkachuk #19 celebrates to give the Panthers a 3-2 win in Game Three of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Final at FLA Live Arena on June 08, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Dan Rosen @drosennhl / NHL.com Senior Writer

June 8, 2023

SUNRISE, Fla. — Carter Verhaeghe scored 4:27 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers came back to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at FLA Live Arena on Thursday.

Florida earned its 10th consecutive overtime win dating to Game 3 of the 2021 First Round and became the second team in NHL history to win 10 consecutive overtime games (single or spanning postseasons). The Panthers joined the Canadiens (14 GP from 1993-1998).
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Vegas leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is here Saturday.

Verhaeghe got the puck from Sam Bennett and scored with a wrist shot from inside the blue line that got through traffic and beat Adin Hill on the glove side.

Matthew Tkachuk had tied it 2-2 for the Panthers at 17:47 of the third period, scoring from in front off the rebound of Verhaeghe’s one-timer from the right point.

Florida killed a Vegas power play that extended 1:48 into overtime before Verhaeghe scored. Gustav Forsling was called for tripping Chandler Stephenson with 12 seconds left in the third.

Brandon Montour scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for the Panthers, who are 7-0 in overtime in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Jonathan Marchessault and Mark Stone each had a goal and an assist, and Hill made 20 saves for the Golden Knights.

Florida won despite going 0-for-5 on the power play and giving up two goals on its penalty kill.

Montour gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead 4:08 into the first period with a bar-down wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle. Tkachuk had the assist.

It was Montour’s first goal in 11 games.

Stone scored Vegas’ first power-play goal of the game to tie it 1-1 at 16:03. He moved across the crease and used his backhand to redirect Marchessault’s shot during a 4-on-3 advantage.

Marchessault stayed red-hot by scoring the Golden Knights’ second power-play goal, making it 2-1 at 14:59 of the second period.

Jack Eichel carried the puck below the right circle and found Marchessault at the left face-off dot with a pass through a bunch of sticks. Marchessault beat Bobrovsky with a one-timer into the top left corner.

Marchessault has four goals in three games in the series. He has points in eight straight games (eight goals, five assists) and 13 goals in the past 13 games.

Florida went on its fourth power play of the game 1:27 after Marchessault gave Vegas the lead, but the Panthers again could not connect, dropping to 0-for-4 in the game and 0-for-11 in the series.

They also came up empty after going on a power play at 7:22 of the third before Tkachuk tied it late.

The Panthers won their first ever Stanley Cup Final game tonight after missing doing so in the 1996 SCF, becoming the 11th franchise in NHL history to win their first Stanley Cup Final game in overtime. The only other franchises to do so that debuted in the 1990s or later are the Hurricanes (Game 1 in 2002), Ducks (Game 3 in 2003), and Sharks (Game 3 of 2016).
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Source: nhl.com