Kucherov repeats Hull success, Kaprizov catches Minnesota record holders

“Tampa” – “Toronto” – 7: 3

In the current encounter between Tampa and Toronto, there has not been a single match in which less than five goals will be scored. The fourth game in the series was the most productive – the audience saw 10 goals. And one of the main characters on the ice was the Russian leader of the “lightning” Nikita Kucherov. Even though he did not score a goal this time, the team’s extravagance of goals began with its effective action.

Just 60 seconds into the match, Stephen passed Stamkos and opened the goal with a long-range shot. Six minutes later, Pat Maroon, assisted by Pierre-Edouard Bellmare and Mikhail Sergachev, landed another puck and the score was 5:0 in the 26th minute. At the same time, Kucherov again served as an assistant in the event of the fifth goal, surpassing the entire defense of the Maple Leaves.

Even before he took the puck, he made it clear that he was going to throw it to his opponents and they believed it, while Nikita calmly delivered the perfect pass to Corey Perry, who made the score devastating. Let’s also note that “Tampa” plays three-on-five.

After the fifth missed goal, the Toronto coach replaced the goalkeeper, and Eric Chellgren, who went on the ice instead of Jack Campbell, tackled his task without missing a single goal. Lightning, however, scored two goals, but to an empty net – and after the guests scored two goals and knocked out the goalkeeper in hopes of a majority. This did not help them: first Ondřej Palat made the score 6:2, a minute later Jake Mazzin again gave the “leaves” ghostly hope, and Chellgren again stepped down. But Ross Colton’s disc, placed in an empty “frame”, finally finished off the guests.

After that game, the score in the series was 2-2, and Kucherov repeated the success of the legendary Brett Hull in assists in the NHL playoffs – now the Russian has 87 assists and is sixth in league history for this. indicator.

He may soon reach the fifth line: five fronts separate Gordie Howe Kucherov, who now occupies him.

“St. Louis” – “Minnesota” – 5: 2

In the match between “St. Louis” and “Minnesota”, the score was 2-2, while the “savages” lost the fourth game of the series away. As part of the home team, four Russians took part in the game – Ivan Barbashev, Alexei Toropchenko and Vladimir Tarasenko failed to score with fruitful moves, and Pavel Buchnevich assisted Jordan Kaira, who opened the goal in the fifth minute. Losing the puck, Minnesota leader Kirill Kaprizov contributed to his own goal by allowing the Blues to escape for a counterattack.

However, Cyril soon showed everyone what he admires for this season. In the 15th minute, he managed to score a shot surrounded by four opponents, leveling the score.

Unfortunately for the guests, this was the Russians’ only effective move for the match. In the middle of the third period, St. Louis was already leading 3:1. Minnesota managed to recapture another puck with Matt Baldy’s goal, but were left for the home team to score two goals in the final minutes.

Yet another goal from Kaprizov put him on par with club record holders Marian Gaborik and Wes Walz, who scored five goals in a series with Vancouver in 2003. Now Kirill also has five goals in a series and St. His next puck against Louis will make him the club’s sole record holder for this indicator.