Ovechkin caught Pittsburgh, Kaprizov got into the “club 100”

Arizona Coyotes 0-2 Washington Capitals

Despite the fact that all eight participants of the NHL playoffs from the Eastern Conference are already known, the fight continues in every game and for them. Yes, the leading teams no longer need to think about taking the end-of-season break, but for them, it’s just the beginning. And right now, who will play against whom and who will have the home advantage is determined in the first round. And all of that could be a deciding factor, especially since getting into the playoffs wouldn’t be a good fit for anyone from the east eight on their own. This year, they each set themselves the task of winning the Cup!

And at the moment, Alexander Ovechkin’s Washington is only eighth in the conference and second on the wild card, which automatically brings him to Florida, the best team in the East in the championship. Not many people want to play with the Panthers in the first round, so the Capitals are fighting with all their might to avoid it.

Peter Laviolette’s team is in really great shape and is currently one of the hottest teams in the NHL. The game against Arizona, which has not won since April 3, was not supposed to be a serious test for the Capitals.

But at the same time, the meeting with the Jackals closed the Washington tour, and the team accumulated a certain amount of fatigue. All in all, it was not an easy hike.

At the start of the first period, playing his sixth game in the league, Jack McBain had two excellent scoring chances. However, he couldn’t beat Vitek Vanechek and Arizona didn’t have much of a chance in the future.

And in the middle of the starting episode, Caps opened the score. Justin Schultz took a brush from the right starting circle, Niklas Backström took the puck saved by Karel Velmejka and sent it to the far post, which Conor Sheary sent into the net.

This puck was victorious as the second and final goal was also scored in the left door of Velmeika at the last minute. John Carlson scored with the participation of Nick Dowd and the same Shiri.

Four times “Washington” failed to secure a majority in this fight, but at the same time did not allow a single removal, which itself was in many ways a key factor.

At the start of the third 20-minute period, the Coyotes’ three-on-one could have turned the game, but Vanechek made the best save of the game. As a result, the Czech goalkeeper, who saved 19 shots, finished fourth clean of the season and sixth in the NHL. Interestingly, he missed 22 goals in his previous six starts, so he lost the status of the team’s first number to Russian Ilya Samsonov.

It was the ninth consecutive defeat for Arizona, and Lavioletta’s team finished the away round 3-1-1, with seven wins in their last nine games.

The Capitals’ performance is looking very good in the spring (16-5-2), as they have already caught up with Boston, who finished first in the wild card zone and placed third in the Capital Division. , Pittsburgh. Both Washingtons are behind in regular time wins and the Bruins have a game in hand, but the battle at the end of the season will be hot.

As for the Russians, Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov this time left the ice without scoring, but the defender earned +1 in utility statistics.

Minnesota Wild 6-3 Seattle Craken

Second-place finisher Kirill Kaprizova in the Minnesota Central Division can’t relax in any way. In the first round of the playoffs, St. It is already known that he will enter a war with Louis – Vladimir Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich and Ivan Barbashev. At the same time, the Blues are so good now, they’ve posted a nine-win streak in the last ten games and caught Wild on points.

The “musicians” who have a significant advantage over the number of wins in regular time, which is the main additional indicator, and who will be higher, will take advantage of their ice in the series. But the “savages” had a game in their hands and the opportunity to protect the second line.

It was a home game against Seattle, who had an unsuccessful first season in the NHL. But at the same time, Kraken is pretty good right now, and St. He had won the previous three fights before coming to visit Paul.

And Dave Hextol’s services started off the reporting meeting great. Jonas Donskoy caught an unfortunate pass from behind goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury’s net and passed it to Daniel Sprong, which he did not miss. Later, Yanni Gourde turned a one-on-one match with Carson Kuhlman.

It really helped Dean Evason’s team gain a majority towards the end of the first third, and Kevin Fiala and Kaprizov brought Joel Eriksson-Ek into the field goal.

This trio made a significant contribution to the team’s victory, giving the guests a real nightmare in the second period. For him, Wild scored five unanswered goals.

First the Swedish striker scored a double from Fiala’s transfer, then Fiala and Eriksson-Ek Kaprizov secured the 45th successful shot of the season and Minnesota took the lead for the first time.

After that, Kaprizov organized the goal of Ryan Hartman, helped Matsu Zuccarello together with Fiala, and then helped the Swiss Nicolas Deslauriers to score.

In the third quarter, league freshman and very bright young Matty Beniers scored his third goal in five games in the world’s strongest league and transformed the majority, which somewhat sweetened Seattle’s defeat.

But no one talked about the next talent goal after the game, as the Minnesota leaders had several successes.

With 4 (1 + 3) points, Kaprizov became the first player in the club’s history to exceed 100 points in a single season. Now, with 101 points, it is sixth on the list of all leagues.

Before Kirill, only six Russians managed to reach the grandmaster figure of 100 for the title: Alexander Ovechkin (four times), Evgeni Malkin (three), Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov and Nikita Kucherov (two each).

Fiala, who made five assists in the match, reached 50 assists for the first time in his career. Kaprizov and Zuccarello are the third Wild players to do so this season.

Switzerland currently has 82 (32+50) points and until this season is one point behind Marjan Gaborik, who scored a record 83 points for the club in the 2007/08 season.

But the most important thing for Evason and his team is that the “savages” St. Louis again by two points and still go to their advantage in the series.

Other matches

Edmonton Oilers 6-3 Colorado Avalanche
Columbus Blue Jackets – Ottawa Senators – 1:2 B

Valery Nichushkin’s 23rd goal of the season, scoring against Edmonton, didn’t help Colorado. Evander Kane’s hat-trick and three assists from Connor McDavid, who took back the lead in the scoring race, turned things around. This win gave the Oilers a playoff chance.

Ottawa and Columbus defenders Artem Zub and Vladislav Gavrikov failed to score in the face-to-face match between their teams, although they both played customarily reliably.