Vancouver Canucks – Washington Capitals – 1:2
Even though pundits and even fans have long given up on the team, Washington continues to chase the playoffs. Even management acted like a seller at the trade deadline, which often happens to those considering next season. But Spencer Carbery’s team continues to fight and is indeed still in the Stanley Cup race.
The Capitals began their away game against Vancouver knowing that one of their main rivals, the New York Islanders, had lost in overtime to Ottawa by scoring just one point on their home ice. That is, if they win, the Caps are compared with the Islanders in terms of points and games played, surpassing the New Yorkers in additional indicators and rising to a position just behind the wild card zone. (last two places in Stanley Cup).
The match against the Western Conference leader, which Washington lost at home in overtime, did not seem to be easy. Moreover, Vancouver managed to open the scoring in the first shift. Ilya Mikheyev passed the ball to Quinn Hughes, the captain had difficulty keeping the puck at the blue line, during the possession he moved sideways and towards the goal and took a shot. Brock Boeser, the Canucks’ top sniper in front of Charlie Lindgren, adjusted the puck’s flight path on contact, directing it between the goalie’s pads.
In the first period, the “orcas” generally looked better than their opponents, but they could not achieve more. However, the game changed dramatically in the second period. While Rick Tocchet’s team seemed to forget to leave the locker room at halftime, the visiting team, on the contrary, was excited.
“Washington” began to act faster, more interestingly and much sharper than its rival. True, the capital managed to restore balance without the help of referees who recorded the icing, but Canucks forward Phil Di Giuseppe was clearly first on the puck. Caps won the throw-in in the opposition half and Ivan Miroshnichenko famously tackled the spot and passed with a clumsy hand to the far post, where Tom Wilson struck the empty corner.
This assist was a first in the NHL for Miroshnichenko, who recently scored his first two goals in the world’s strongest league.
And just one minute and 53 seconds later, the team captain also scored. Alexander Ovechkin also closed down the far post, joined by Russian defender Alexander Alekseev and center Connor McMichael; This mistake in overtime cost Washington the defeat in the teams’ first meeting.
This goal was Ovi’s 19th goal this season and the 841st goal in his career. Wayne Gretzky’s record is just 53 shots away.
In the second period, Washington continued to press but was unable to get past Casey DeSmith, who played well on the end line for the home team. In the third period, the Canucks came to their senses and put a lot of pressure, including empty goals in the last two minutes, but they could not achieve success.
Ovechkin came close to scoring a double, but the Caps’ captain wasn’t fast enough to run the puck toward the target where DeSmith left it.
The score remained 2:1 until the final siren, which means that Ovechkin scored the 127th winning goal of his career and is now only eight winning goals behind Jaromir Jagr, who holds the record for this indicator.
At the same time, Alexander the Great needs only one shot in this championship to score at least 20 goals in each of his 19 seasons in the NHL. “Washington” is only one point behind Detroit, which is in last place in the cup, and the “capitals” also have a game in hand..
Florida Panthers – Tampa Bay Lightning – 3:5
Tampa Bay, which continues its fight to enter the Stanley Cup and ranks first in the wild card region, successfully visited Florida, the leader of the entire league.
Yıldırım, who took the lead in the 20th second with the shot of team captain Steven Stamkos, increased the difference to 4-0 in the seventh minute of the second period and reached 4 goals. But the rest of the time John Cooper’s team were clearly patient and the opposition were systematically catching up with them.
In the end, the Panthers were able to minimize the lead thanks to a puck by Matt Tkachak and a double by Sam Rinehart, but Tampa survived and Stamkos and Braden Hagel set up an open goal to Nikita Kucherov.
While Stamkos became the first star of the match by scoring 4 (2+2) points, Kucherov scored 1+1 points and reduced the gap between him and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon to one point. Available.
However, the real hero of the match was Russian Yıldırım goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevski, who made 47 saves! By comparison, Sergei Bobrovsky had only 15 shots on goal, 11 of which came in the first 20 minutes!
Pittsburgh Penguins – New York Rangers – 4:7
Artemi Panarin, the second domestic goal scorer of the season, was the main protagonist of the Rangers’ match against the local Penguins in Pittsburgh. The striker scored two goals and three assists and scored five points in the fifth international match of his career.
“I never think about it or try to do it. Maybe I will think about this success later, but I never think about such things during the season,” Panarin said after the meeting.
He now has 93 points (38+55) in 67 games, making Panarin the first player in the Rangers’ rich club history to score 90 points in four seasons with the Blueshirts and to do so in three consecutive seasons. .
Thanks to this victory Rangers have 92 points; They are two points behind Florida, one game behind, and three points behind Boston, which has played two more games.. In the Metropolitan Division, New Yorkers definitely come out on top.
Other matches
Detroit Red Wings – Buffalo Sabers – 4:1
New York Islanders – Ottawa Senators – 3:4 OT
Arizona Coyotes – New Jersey Devils – 4:1
Boston Bruins – Philadelphia Flyers – 6:5
Columbus Blue Jackets – San Jose Sharks – 4:2
Calgary Flames – Montreal Canadians – 5:2
Toronto Maple Leafs – Carolina Hurricanes – 4:5 B
Dallas Stars – Los Angeles Kings – 4:1
Louis Blues – Minnesota Wild – 3:2 B
Seattle Kraken – Nashville Predators – 1:4
Edmonton Oilers – Colorado Avalanche – 2:3 Overtime