Ovechkin caught Selanne: the captain of “Washington” set a new record

The end of the NHL season is a bit of a strange time when you look at what hockey teams are playing. Many end the season losing all motivation as they can no longer make it to the trophy division, and those who have already done so often solve some non-linear tasks, practicing some players while saving others. At the same time, there is a group of teams that are fighting hard to enter the post-season until the final season.

Colorado Avalanche 2-3 Washington Capitals

The game in Denver was very enthusiastic from the very beginning and fully justified the expectations, if not only the teams that guaranteed the playoffs. They represent different conferences, so they will only compete if they reach the finals together, and host Colorado on its own ice has already achieved its first seed in the West.

However, this did not negatively affect the motivation of Jared Bednar’s team. The Avalanche are in a stubborn correspondence battle with east Florida for all-league titles, which means the Presidents Cup.

The Panthers, who had been victorious the day before, had a ten-game winning streak and drew two points of the game. But Alexander Ovechkin and Co. Before meeting with the “avalanche” itself, he went on a streak of nine victories in a row.

But “Washington” itself, currently in eighth place in the East, goes up to the second wild card (only for the dreaded “Florida”), continuing to fight to get a little higher and choose the first. It ranks third from “Boston” to “wildcard” or “Pittsburgh”.

At the same time, Peter Laviolette’s bodyguards are in excellent shape and have won five of the last six matches before the reporting meeting. Russian Ilya Samsonov, who took his place at the door, won his last five starts steadily.

The match turned out to be interesting and rather dramatic, and the beginning of the events was laid by the breakthrough of Garnet Hathaway, who, after losing the home side, fled to meet Darcy Kumper and scored his hundredth number in his career in the NHL. with this target.

Valery Nichushkin, who was having the best season of his career, answered him. It was his 400th game in the NHL, and he cut himself off from Cale Makar’s transfer, scoring the record-breaking 22nd goal of the season, leading to a five-game – 3 + 4 – winning streak on points.

This score was also important for Makar, who broke Steve Duchene’s club record of 82 points in the 1992/93 season with 83 (26 + 57) points for the current title. Quebec Nordiques.

In the second period, Makar was in the box and the Capitals didn’t play much on the first try. But Niko Sturm’s stumble gave them a second chance.

Caps confidently positioned themselves in foreign territory, terrorizing the Washington defense with a change, and it all ended with the fact that after Evgeny Kuznetsov’s close-range shot, the puck jumped to the far post, which Ovechkin calmly sent. from the “lane” to an empty corner.

Thanks to this puck, Alexander the Great caught up with Finn Teemu Selanne, who still holds the single-season goalscoring record for players over 36 – now both have 48.

In the middle of the third quarter, traded to Montreal on the deadline, striker Artturi Lehkonen stabilized, waiting for the puck that Samsonov lost in the patch, but just two and a half minutes later Connor Sheary robbed another Avalanche. From the last day of the exchanges, rookie Josh Manson gave up for a kill shot at Marcus Johansson. st. George’s Day (albeit for the second time in his career), the Swede, who also came to Washington, did not miss and brought an important victory to the team.

It is now just one point behind the Capitals Boston and Pittsburgh, but if the former has a game in hand, the latter has played one more game!

The victory for Samsonov, who saved 24 shots, was the 24th of the season, and the defender Dmitry Orlov became the only Russian Caps fielder with a positive indicator of utility – +1, although he did not receive points for performance. Ovechkin and Kuznetsov each have -1.

Nichushkin fired four shots and three power moves and went neutral against the “plus or minus” siren.

Vegas Golden Knights 2-3 New Jersey Demons

But in two of gameday’s six games, there were only real battles to reach the playoffs. Keeping New Jersey on the ice after losing to Edmonton the day before, Vegas is currently outside the top eight in the West and is in danger of not making the playoffs for the first time in its not-so-long history.

After playing the Devils, who wanted nothing and didn’t have main forward Jack Hughes, the risk is very, very tangible.

The start for the Golden Knights was unsuccessful, as long forward Nathan Bastian managed to effectively carry an orphaned puck that fell on a nickel – Robin Lehner was underpowered.

However, in the second period, Peter DeBoer’s men threw the opponent 16-5 and eventually managed to restore the balance. Security guard Keegan Kolesar did just that.

But in the third period, Lehner was alternately upset by his Swedish compatriots Andreas Jonsson and Jesper Bockvist, so the Golden Knights were two goals behind.

By replacing the goalie with a sixth outfielder, Vegas was able to retaliate for a goal. Chandler Stevenson hit Andrew Hammond after his 200th career from Jonathan Marchesseau. It was the Knights’ eighth goal of the season against an empty net. But it wasn’t enough and scoring again didn’t work.

And now the position of the Golden Knights seems extremely unpleasant, especially after what happened in the shootout between Vancouver and Dallas that began half an hour later.

Evgeniy Dadonov took a shot at the hosts, made a power grab and finished the game on the ice at 14:45 with a utility index of -1.

Vancouver Canucks 6-2 Dallas Stars

Well, in the Vancouver game, the hosts took their sixth consecutive win this season. Also, the Canucks have played an opponent who has been holding onto points very well lately, but at the same time, he has yet to secure a spot in the Stanley Cup.

Now with 91 points each, Dallas is battling Nashville for who will be higher in the wild card holders position, namely Calgary (also something else) in the first round, not Colorado. “). But with a few misfires and just “Vancouver”, “Vegas” will hit from below.

At the same time, the main target for “golden knights” and “killer whales” remains the third row in the Pacific section, where the sensational “Los Angeles” is located. Incredible in the beginning, the Kings have been in the Western Conference Cup Eight all season, but now they’re on fire.

Before two defeats in a row, Vegas even outpaced the Kings in terms of lost points, but now they’re three points behind when meetings are tied. But the Canucks are four points behind but have fewer games. So, in terms of losses, the difference here is only one victory, and at the same time, Vancouver and Los Angeles still have to meet face-to-face at the end of the championship, and if the points are even, the Canadian club will be higher!

The standings are now looking for Bruce Boudreau’s team, which until recently was hopelessly behind the playoff zone and was very promising, but if Vancouver lost to Dallas, everything would be bad again. And here, alongside captain Bo Horvath (the team’s best sniper with 30 goals), whom he lost in the last match, the super-form Alex Chaisson fell ill on the full match day despite being included in the game. in practice.

But key forwards Brock Baser and Matt Highmore are back on ice, which has been rustling in the killer whales’ fourth ring all season, along with Juho Lammikko.

But the strength of the Boudreau team is in the team now. See for yourself: The undisputed leader of the team in terms of points, JT Miller, despite having a good match, did not make any effective moves, which did not prevent the home team from scoring 6 goals into the opponent’s goal!

Elias Pettersson, who finally understands the consequences of a hand injury, is great in this part of the season. He scored another 2+1 in that meeting and has been a true gravedigger for Dallas, scoring five goals in three games with the Stars this season (Vancouver has won all three).

Playing the Swede in the top three, Jason Dickinson and Beser each scored three points. As for Dickinson, it’s interesting that he moved from Texas to Canada, especially in the summer, but the season has been very ineffective. And here is such a game against the old club.

Russian fans are especially pleased to watch the moves of Vasily Podkolzin, one of the game leaders of the team, who rose to the top 6 at the end of the season in light of all the injuries.

In this match, he first made a cool pass to Connor Garland for the first goal of the match, and at the start of the third period, with a score of 4:2, with a shrewd shot into the close corner, he finally deprived the guests of hope for a positive result.

In the last five matches, Podkolzin already has 8 (4 + 4) points on his account and has a total of 25 (14 + 11) points in 73 games in his first season in the world’s strongest league.

It was the sixth consecutive victory for the Canucks. The next match, Vancouver will play against the long-lost Ottawa, so the Killer Whales have all the chances to beat Vegas in terms of points.

As for the Dallas Russians, Alexander Radulov gave a cool pass to Rupe Hintz in the majority, and Denis Guryanov once failed to beat Thatcher Demko in close combat. As a result, they both won -1.

Other matches

Chicago Blackhawks 2-5 Calgary Flames
Seattle Craken 4-2 Ottawa Senators
Arizona Coyotes 3-5 Carolina Hurricanes