Kucherov’s goal, Sergachev’s two points and Shesterkin’s return after the accident: how the Russians spent the game day in the NHL

Confrontation of Panarin and Gusev

For Russian fans, one of the central confrontations of the NHL gaming day was held in New York, where the local Rangers hosted New Jersey. Wards of David Quinn continue to struggle for access to the playoffs and desperately need points, while their opponents are among the four worst teams in the league. Nevertheless, Nikita Gusev and the company unexpectedly took over - 6: 4. This defeat was for the Rangers fourth in the last five meetings. The leader of the New York club Artemy Panarin did not have the most vivid match and was not marked by effective actions, while other domestic athletes performed more successfully.

In particular, this applies to Gusev, who at the beginning of the second period led the offensive of his team and again showed that he is an excellent passer. Nikita made a transfer to the naked Fredrick Classon, who could only "shoot" the goalkeeper of the enemy.

For the Russian striker, this transfer was the 31st of the season, which, together with 12 goals, helped him to strengthen his status as the second best scorer of New Jersey. In terms of this indicator, only Kyle Palmieri (20 + 25) outperforms him in a duel with the Rangers.

It is worth noting that from the first minutes Igor Shesterkin appeared in the “frame” of the hosts, who was injured in an accident about two weeks ago. And, judging by the first match after returning to the ice, the accident clearly affected his performance. Before this incident, the Russian was the first goalkeeper of the team and held one confident performance after another, but this time he was not so faultless. Over two periods, Shesterkin repelled a total of 18 (78.3%) shots and conceded five goals. Most of them were the result of an extremely unsuccessful game of the hosts in defense, but at least one was personally to blame for Igor. In the seventh minute of the match, he did not respond to a tricky attack performed by Palmieri from the zero corner and saw a red light outside his goal.

In the final 20-minute, Shesterkin was replaced by veteran Henrik Lundqvist, but his efforts were not enough to save the blue shirts from defeat. The Swede made five saves, but the Devils threw their sixth puck into the empty net. The hosts only four times upset Mackenzie Blackwood. And if Panarin did not score points for performance, then Pavel Buchnevich chalked up two programs. First, he assisted the best sniper of the team, Mika Zibanejad, and then took part in the combination, which ended with a goal by Greg McKegg.

This allowed Buchnevich to score 44 (15 + 29) points and establish his best career result for this indicator. Until now, the most successful season for him has remained the 2017/18 season, following which he has chalked up 14 goals and 29 assists.

Goal Kucherov and two points Sergacheva

In terms of standings, the main game of the day was played in Boston, where the Bruins hosted Tampa Bay. Before this match, the hosts had 98 points in their assets and led the race for the Presidential Cup, while Lightning lagged behind them by nine points and were the main pursuers. But John Cooper's wards managed for the third time this season to prevail over six-time NHL champions and reduce the backlog.

The main character of the match was Mikhail Sergachev. The guests defender spent 28 minutes on the ice and scored two points for the fourth time this season. In the first period, he became the author of an abandoned puck, and in the third he proved to be a dispatcher. Due to this, his track record was 34 (10 + 24) points, which allowed him to approach his best result in overseas careers. Last year, he scored 40 (9 + 31) points during the regular season.

It is noteworthy that he scored a goal in the minority. Within 62 seconds, Tampa hockey players left Tuukku Rask twice out of work, playing in part. First, after a solo passage, Anthony Sirelli scored, and then Sergachev flashed the net with a spectacular wrist throw.

The guests prevailed with a score of 5: 3, and other domestic athletes pleased their personal fans. Andrei Vasilevsky scored 35 saves and was recognized as the third star of the match, while Nikita Kucherov scored the 33rd puck of the season. He went around Connor McDavid from Edmonton and Artemy Panarin and climbed to tenth line in the list of snipers. As for the scorer dispute, the striker is already in seventh place with 83 points.

Returning to the events of the match, already in the first period, the leader of the Lightning defense Viktor Hedman was injured, because of which he played only four and a half minutes. And in the second period there was a massive fight on the ice. The judges mistakenly did not record a goal being scored, which caused a conflict. It was started by Patrick Marun and Zdeno Hara, after which a fight on the ice was supported by other representatives of the game fives. At the same time, the Floridians were more successful, having won at least two full-time duels.

Also successful this game day was for striker “Carolina” Andrei Svechnikov. The young striker interrupted a series of three dry meetings and scored two assists in the confrontation with the Islanders (3: 2 OT). In the third period, he assisted Joel Edmundsson, and in overtime helped Vincent Trocek excel.

Svechnikov scored 60 (24 + 36) points and reached 34th place in the scorers' dispute. He caught up with David Perron of St. Louis and Matthew Tkachuk of Calgary. At the same time, only one point separates him from the 30th line.