In a tournament devised to sardine the NHL's greatest talent into eight teams, who else but the game's greatest player was to stand out most?
Sidney Crosby was unanimously named the World Cup of Hockey's most valuable player after captaining Canada to its third straight triumph in best-on-best international competition with a series sweep of Team Europe in the final.
The Triple Gold Club member and reigning Stanley Cup-winning captain with the Pittsburgh Penguins scored three times and recorded a tournament-best 10 points.
He also centered the best line throughout the competition, with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron on his wings. They combined for 25 points, and produced multiple goals in each of their three games in the knockout round.
Crosby has been part of 16 consecutive wins in best-on-best competition; a stretch that includes winning gold medals at the last two Olympics. And if you include the World Championship, he's won 25 straight games in a Canadian sweater.
Brad Marchand justified his selection long ago, but how's one more contribution for good measure?
The Canadian winger scored the World Cup of Hockey's decisive goal with 43 seconds left in Game 2 of the best-of-three final, spoiling a valiant performance from Team Europe.
Marchand's goal was his fourth of the tournament, and eighth point.
Canada won the World Cup of Hockey on Thursday after defeating Europe in two games, coming back in the third period to win Game 2 of the final 2-1 on a short-handed goal by Brad Marchand.
The host nation's opponent put forth a valiant effort, and led from early in the first until late in regulation. After largely controlling play in the first few minutes of the game, Europe was rewarded with an early lead thanks to a pinpoint wrist shot off the stick of defenseman Zdeno Chara and past Carey Price.
Canada’s play began to pick up at that point, and the Game 1 winners came out more determined in the second period, with John Tavares ringing the puck off the near post when presented with a wide-open net late on a power-play opportunity.
Still, at the end of 40 minutes of play, Europe held the 1-0 lead while outshooting Canada in each of the first two periods.
The underlying possession numbers, however, suggested the host nation was carrying the play - Canada led in terms of total shot attempts, and it was Europe’s inspired defensive effort that helped keep the puck away from Jaroslav Halak, as evidenced by the bevy of blocked shots in front of him.
The fact Europe had more actual shots on net was a testament to an aggressive forecheck and Canada’s propensity to turn the puck over rather easily.
Canada continued to press for the tying goal over the course of the final period, and finally broke the shutout on a deft tip by Patrice Bergeron off a Brent Burns point shot while European captain Anze Kopitar was in the penalty box late in regulation.
The Europeans were afforded a late power play of their own, only to see Marchand tally a short-handed goal with 44 seconds left in the third period. Canada would not relinquish the lead in the game's dying seconds.
The overall possession chart indicates Canada did deserve to come out on top in this one.
Price made 32 saves on 33 shots, while Halak stood strong for Europe with 32 saves on 34 shots.
The win kept Canada's run of international dominance intact. The World Cup winners now have 16 straight wins in best-on-best competition dating back to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Hampus Lindholm didn't jet back to California when Sweden crashed out of the World Cup of Hockey. He headed straight home, and will remain there until he has a contract.
Lindholm's agent, Claude Lemieux, confirmed Thursday that his client will not attend training camp until he signs a new deal with the Anaheim Ducks.
The 22-year-old restricted free-agent defender and the Ducks are both believed to covet a long-term pact, but there's reportedly a significant gap between Lindholm's ask and what the budget club is willing to commit.
Several blue-liners in Lindholm's class have signed long-term agreements this summer, offering easy comparables. Those deals range from the $5-million annual salary Toronto Maple Leafs defender Morgan Rielly fetched on a long-term contract to the $7.5 million Aaron Ekblad will pull in each season for the next eight years.
A photo posted by Clarke MacArthur (@cmacarthur16) on
Sieloff, a 22-year-old defenseman hoping to crack the Senators' NHL roster, caught MacArthur with a blindside hit Sunday that incited retaliatory actions from veterans Bobby Ryan and Chris Neil.
MacArthur played only four games last season due to concussion symptoms, after suffering his fourth brain injury in the last 18 months. The 31-year-old winger has spent the last three campaigns with Ottawa.
Defeated 3-1 in Game 1 of the World Cup final, the Europeans know the task ahead of them - beating Canada twice in a row - is monumental, but they're approaching Game 2 much the same, believing all the pressure is on Canada.
Europe's been living on the "there's no tomorrow" cliche all tournament, and that moment of truth is finally upon them. And instead of being intimidated, its players are looking to gain strength from their position.
"We're playing this game without any fear," head coach Ralph Krueger said, according to NHL.com's Tom Gulitti. "We're going to go head-on again."
Europe, to a man, believes it can win Thursday night.
"We proved we can play," Tomas Tatar, Europe's lone goal-scorer in Game 1, said.
"You have to believe all the time," Zdeno Chara said.
Florida Panthers defensive stalwart Aaron Ekblad continued to practice Thursday after a neck injury forced him to miss the final two games of Team North America's run at the World Cup of Hockey.
Ekblad was cleared by team doctors Wednesday, and after initial concussion fears - which would have been his second since January - the 20-year-old cleared the air, calling the injury "whiplash."
"When you get whiplash like that, there's restricted blood flow to the head and that causes systems because the the blood doesn't drain out of head as fast. That's why you get symptoms without being a concussion."
Ekblad, widely considered Florida's most important player, signed an eight-year, $60-million contract in the offseason, and his clean bill of health is imperative to the Panthers' playoff aspirations this season.
Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said the club was informed by the forward's agent, Scott Greenspun, that his client won't report to camp without a new contract, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.
Yzerman said over the weekend that he expected contract talks to pick up now that Kucherov is done playing for Russia at the World Cup of Hockey, where he scored twice and added an assist in four games.
The 23-year-old restricted free agent established new career highs with 30 goals and 66 points for the Lightning last season. He scored 28 goals and tallied 64 points in 2014-15.
Kucherov is Tampa Bay's lone remaining free agent.
