Malkin's mistake and pass, Mikheev's goal and Zamula's debut: what are the memories of the first exhibition matches before the start of the NHL playoffs

Malkin's mistake and Zamula's debut

The return of professional ice hockey after the coronavirus pandemic can be considered complete. The Stanley Cup is set to kick off in Toronto and Edmonton on August 1, but National Hockey League teams have already started holding exhibition matches to get in shape ahead of the official games. Three meetings took place on July 28, in the first of which the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime.

For Pittsburgh, in whose first link Jake Gunzel first appeared since December, everything started well. It was with the filing of the striker that Conor Shiri opened the scoring in the sixth minute. But then the Penguins' game fell apart. Errors and misunderstandings, which could be attributed to a long pause, began to arise too often, which could not but affect the outcome of the match.

As a result, “Philadelphia” managed to come out ahead even before the break. Sean Couturier scored during a delayed penalty after passes by Ivan Provorov and Claude Giroud, and at the end of the period Evgeny Malkin made a terrible sawn-off shot in his zone. The puck hit the hook of Kevin Hayes, who had no difficulty in sending it into the goal.

The Penguins tried to rehabilitate themselves, but they didn’t succeed - in the first two periods they were able to make only 12 shots. And the most memorable episode was the change of fives in the middle of the second period, when ten field players were on the ice at once.

Only in the final third did Pittsburgh begin to succeed, and Jason Zucker leveled the score with Malkin's pass. But in overtime the Flyers snatched a well-deserved victory. One of its co-authors was defender Yegor Zamula, who made his debut in the NHL. The 20-year-old Russian managed to briefly go out on the ice and demonstrate his talents to the coaching staff.

Mikheev's goal and Price's missed goals

The NHL tried to stir up interest in exhibition matches as much as possible and arranged a Canadian derby between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. A confident victory in it was won by the ice owners, who will soon start a play-in series with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Already on the 33rd second, Toronto took the lead thanks to Ilya Mikheev. For him, this was the first match since December, when the 25-year-old striker suffered a hand injury. During training camps, he managed to rise to the second level and immediately justified the coach's confidence. Mikheev, in touch, closed the pass of John Tavares, not noticing that he was opposed by Shea Weber and Brendan Gallagher at that moment.

Mikheev was partly involved in the first goal of "Montreal". Immediately after his removal in the second period, Tomas Tatar was able to distinguish himself - in fact, the Russian team was still playing in the minority, since he had not yet managed to reach his zone.

But "Toronto" by that time was still leading, and the advantage of two goals was quickly restored by Alexander Kerfoot, who had previously scored a goal in the minority. In the third 20-minute, the teams exchanged goals, and again without one fielder the Leafs felt even better. Morgan Reilly put an end to what became a nightmare for Canadiens goalkeeper Carrie Price. He managed to make only 19 saves after 23 shots.

McDavid's double and Edmonton's goalkeeper saves

In another Canadian derby, the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers met. The hosts of one of the two hubs of the renewed season immediately showed that they would have to be reckoned with in the playoffs. The Oilers won 4-1 with seven fewer shots than their opponents.

By the eighth minute, "Edmonton" threw two goals into someone else's goal. Kyler Yamamoto finished off the puck after a rebound, and Connor McDavid excelled in the majority. Assisted by the Canadian Leon Dreiseitl, who is the main competitor of Artemy Panarin for the title of the best player of the regular season.

In the third period, McDavid scored a double, this time using a pass from Patrick Roussel, who had scored the puck himself 33 seconds earlier. Only goalkeepers could compare in usefulness with McDavid in this match. Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith made 36 saves for two, and Elias Lindholm managed to score the only goal for them only during the rally.