Patrick Kane lifts the EURO Cup for the second time in his career – both times with Minsk – on Thursday. Kane scored twice in the third period to help the Hussars pull away from Bratislava.

Everyone knew the Minsk Hussars were good enough to win their second EURO Cup in three seasons, but they faced adversity a couple of times this season and some were starting to doubt them.

Unfortunately for the Hussars’ opponents in the Finals – the Bratislava Eagles – the doubters did not include people named Tippett, Price, Staal, McDonagh and their teammates. Minsk had worked their way through a disasterous, injury-laden start of the season to win the President’s Trophy for the third time in three seasons. That seemed to prove to the Hussars they have the heart to make comebacks. In the Finals, they needed every bit of that collective heart. They faltered against Bratislava and went down 3-1 in the series, giving Minsk the task of winning three straight games, including one in Bratislava, where the Eagles are at their best (a league-best 5 regulation losses during the season).

The three-game, uphill battle started with a convincing 4-2 win in Belarus, as Minsk outshot Bratislava 37-17. Then, what is now seen as the key game of the series took place the next day, with a packed house in Bratislava hoping the Cup would be presented at center ice that night. Minsk dug in their heels, Carey Price played nearly perfectly, and a depressed Eagles community limped away on the wrong side of a 5-1 score.

In Game 7, Minsk was on top of their game right from the beginning, outshooting Bratislava 12-3 in the first period. But the score was a thin 1-0 lead for the Hussars when the first intermission occurred. Bratislava regrouped nicely behind former Minsk Coach Lindy Ruff, but former Eagle Luke Adam scored to make it 2-0 and defenseman Ryan McDonagh had assisted on both important goals.

Thanks to a powerplay later in the second period, Bratislava was able to make Minsk’s fans squirm in their seats. Tyler Ennis took a pass from Eagle captain Jonathan Toews and slipped a goal behind Price.  In the third period, Minsk gave Bratislava two more powerplay chances, but Price held them at bay and then American winger Patrick Kane, who grew up about 5 miles from where Bratislava General Manager Chuck Massaro grew up, finished off the Eagles. With assists from linemates Jordan Staal and Milan Lucic, Kane tallied with 4:35 left in the third to make it 3-1 and then the line created an instant replay goal about 2 minutes later and the celebrating began in Minsk.

In playoff scoring, Toews finished as the leading  scorer with 29 points in 27 games. Minsk’s top playoff scorers were second-liners Thomas Powell and Nicklas Backstrom, with 26 points in 21 and 22 games, respectively. Minsk defenseman Kris Russell was tops in plus/minus at +18.

Minsk was disappointed a season ago when their promising season came to an abrupt end against Moscow in the conference semi-finals, but they stuck with the same group for Season 8. Season 9 will be a bit of a challenge for the architect of the team, General Manager Igor Kirunov. First, he has to convince Price, Russell and Backstrom to pick up their player options and go for the hat trick in Cups. Then he has to worry about the defense corps a little bit, because Maxim Chudinov will ask for a higher salary in a new contract and McDonagh will be an unrestricted free agent.