Two passes by Kucherov and 61 saves by Vasilevsky: the Russians helped Tampa win in the 151st minute of the Stanley Cup match

Point's goal in the 151st minute and Vasilevsky's 61 saves

The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Columbus Blue Jackets met again in the first round of the Stanley Cup. A year ago, a team from Ohio unexpectedly beat the winner of the President's Cup, spending only four matches on it. This season, John Tortorella's charges have already created a small sensation, knocking out the Toronto Maple Leafs from the fight, so they definitely cannot be considered outsiders in the series with Tampa.

The Columbus players took the first step towards repeating last year's success already in the third minute. Pierre-Luc Dubois successfully stood at the gates of Andrei Vasilevsky and helped to realize the majority with a ricochet, which the team never succeeded in playing against Toronto. However, just a few minutes later, “Tampa” equalized the score. After a not very strong shot by Nikita Kucherov, the puck flew into the goal from Braden Point's leg.

Every minute the match more and more resembled last year's streak of two teams. “Tampa” attacked nonstop, but the real danger arose mainly at the Vasilevsky gate. He coped with most of the threats and even smashed his lip in the blood to reflect Eric Robinson's throw after a failed ricochet. But when at the end of the second period, the Russian goalkeeper was blocked off, he could not cope with the long-range throw of Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Immediately after the break, the Lightning players created a turmoil outside the net, forcing goalkeeper Jonas Corpisalo to send the puck over the line. After that, the Finn was eager to improve and in the end did everything possible for Columbus to win. He did not let Tampa see the case through in regulation time and put the match into overtime.

What happened next became part of NHL history. For four and a half additional periods, Vasilevsky and Korpisalo reflected each throw at their goal. The match between Dallas and Calgary, which began later, had already ended, while Tampa and Columbus continued to sort things out. At some point, for both teams, this match became the longest in their history. The game between Boston and Carolina, which was supposed to take place in Toronto after the reporting match, had to be postponed until the next morning.

The goalkeepers were the undisputed heroes of this infinitely long overtime. Vasilevsky made 61 saves and broke Nikolai Khabibulin's club record for Stanley Cup matches. Corpisalo's result was even more impressive. He saved 85 shots, the best record in the NHL since the league's goalkeeper statistics began.

Another record was set by Columbus defender Seth Jones. He spent more than 65 minutes on the ice, and this became a new reliably confirmed record for field players.

By the 151st minute, this match became the fourth longest in Stanley Cup history. There were only a minute and a half left to hit the top three, but Point stopped the stopwatch. In the match report, Mikhail Sergachev and Nikita Kucherov became his assistants, but Vladislav Gavrikov helped the Canadian much more, reflecting the puck directly onto his stick. For the Columbus defender, this tough match ended with a -3 utility.

Guryanov's goal and Khudobin's three goals

In their match, Calgary and Dallas limited themselves to three periods to determine the winner. The Canadians, previously qualified for the Winnipeg Jets, won 3-2 and took the lead in the series. Already in the first period, the Flames achieved a comfortable two-goal advantage thanks to Dillon Dubet's double. He scored the first goal against Anton Khudobin after Alexander Radulov was sent off.

Calgary goalkeeper Cam Talbot did not allow the Stars to recoup for a long time and by the middle of the second period brought his “dry” segment in the Stanley Cup to almost 123 minutes. But Denis Guryanov managed to interrupt him. His long-range shot caught the Canadian goalkeeper by surprise. He failed to collect himself and again missed after only nine seconds, after the throw of Jamie Benn. For Dallas, this pair of goals was the fastest in the Stanley Cup.

Five minutes later, the Canadian team took the lead again, this time thanks to the efforts of Rasmus Andersson. Dallas tried to save the match by knocking Khudobin off the goal after sending Mark Giordano out in the last minute, but in 50 seconds the Stars failed to score in a 6v4 game.

The game day ended with a match between Vegas Golden Knights and Chicago Blackhawks. The team from the US gambling capital won their fourth consecutive round-robin match. The main creator of the victory (4: 1) was Reilly Smith. He scored a double in the third period and made an assist in the second. “Chicago” made just 20 shots on goal by Robin Lehner, who started the season at Blackhawks, and only one of them by David Kempf was successful.