Washington Capitals – Florida Panthers – 3:6
Alexander Ovechkin is still not in the USA. The Russian captain of the Washington Capitals flew to Moscow with his father, who later died, due to worsening health problems.
The bomber, of course, remained in the Russian capital for his funeral, and it is not yet known when exactly he will return to America. However, he was originally supposed to miss the game against Florida and will not return for his second consecutive game with the Carolinas.
The match in the US capital began with a farewell ceremony for Mikhail Ovechkin, who had a significant impact on the career of the best hockey player in the history of the club.
As a result, the Capitals came to a meeting to qualify for the playoffs in a two-way losing streak with an opponent (they lost to San Jose with Ovechkin on the roster), while the Panthers won four of their last six. They got into a fight and approached the trophy court.
“Washington” is still in it, but only two points ahead of its opponent, but holding a tow meeting, so it’s hard to underestimate the value of the confrontation. And without Ovi, his team failed again.
It should not be forgotten that the important thing is not only the result itself. The team of Peter Laviolette and the game looked significantly worse than the guests. In the first period this only resulted in Gustav Forsling’s puck, but right at the start of the second period, most experienced defender Mark Staal increased the Panthers’ advantage with the first goal of the season.
Well, then the key moment of the meeting came. In the middle of the second period, “Florida” Russian goalkeeper Sergey Bobrovsky was dragged dead from Lars Eller, while Anton Lundell helped Colin White with a second assist on the return attack.
Just before the second timeout, Dylan Stroum successfully put his stick under TJ Osha’s shot, but just minutes later, the visiting team’s Finnish captain Alexander Barkov restored the status quo with his team’s three-goal advantage.
Florida, who had 20 shots on goal with Darcy Kumper in the second period, had a solid advantage on this indicator after two-thirds of the game: 30-18.
True, in the third period the hosts turned almost everything upside down, even without Ovechkin. First Niklas Backstrom and then Evgeny Kuznetsov mostly approached the last siren.
That’s right, when Kumper gave way to the sixth fielder on the ice, a few more checkers flew into the empty Caps net to set the final score.
In 50 games without Ovechkin since his entry into the NHL, the Washingtons have won 23 of them with 23 losses in regulation and four failures in overtime or penalty shootouts.
Now on Sunday the Capitals will travel from Raleigh to the Carolinas and this will be a stadium series match and will be played outdoors. If Caps loses, he may be out of the playoff zone. At the same time, Carolina ranks first in the Capital Division.
The longer Ovechkin is absent from the team, the more illusory the chances of a successful season appearance.
Carolina Hurricanes 6-2 Montreal Canadiens
And the Carolinas are doing pretty well right now. The Hurricanes are 11-1-1 in their last 13 home matches since their home win over Montreal. True, the final win against a non-league has not been easy for the Rod Brindamore team.
It was the Canadians who opened the score, and at the end of the two periods the scoreboard was tied 2:2.
In the third period, however, the “hurricanes” once again lived up to their name, literally destroying the opponent, forcing Steve Montembo, the keeper of the “centers”, to surrender four times.
The protagonist of the match was 21-year-old forward Seth Jarvis, who scored his first hat-trick in the NHL.
A brilliant match was also given by the Russian forward Andrey Svechnikov of the Carolinas, who participated in the three-goal combination called second gear.
Interestingly, Svechnikov, who was the main sniper of the team at the beginning of the season, failed to score 18 games in a row, while at the same time he managed to make 14 assists in this segment.
But Montreal striker Yevgeny Dadonov did not succeed at all. At 1:13 p.m. on the ice, he earned -4 utility points like the other two Canadiens players.
Louis Blues 4-2 New Jersey Devils
Replacing Vladimir Tarasenko with the Rangers, St. It didn’t make Louis any less Russian. The moves of Pavel Buchnevich, Ivan Barbashev and Alexei Toropchenko in the match against New Jersey, which lost their top player Jack Hughes to injury, helped the “musicians” win.
First, Buchnevich opened the score at the end of the first period, scoring the 16th goal of the season from Barbashev’s pass. That’s right, Dawson Mercer stabilized in 58 seconds.
But at the start of the second 20-minute period, Toropchenko put the Blues back in the lead with his fourth hit of the season, not allowing his home opponent to rally any further.
Other matches
Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 Winnipeg Jets
Nashville Predators 0-5 Boston Bruins
Calgary Flames 2-5 Detroit Red Wings
Seattle Craken 6-2 Philadelphia Flyers
Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 San Jose Sharks
While healthy, Vladislav Gavrikov was not included in Columbus’s winning roster against Winnipeg because the Blue Jackets are in talks to trade their leading defender and prefer not to risk his health.