Star duo: how Kucherov and Vasilevsky help Tampa Bay get to the Stanley Cup final

Tampa Bay continues its path to the second Stanley Cup in club history.

Last night, John Cooper's charges defeated the Islanders in the second match of the Eastern Conference final series and took another step towards the coveted trophy.

At the same time, the main stars of the meeting were again the Russian hockey players "Lightning" Andrey Vasilevsky and Nikita Kucherov.

For hockey players from Florida, the beginning of the match with the New Yorkers turned out to be quite tense.

Already at 84 seconds, Islanders striker Matt Martin found himself naked next to the opponent's goal and caught Vasilevsky by surprise.

The shot to the far corner was not the strongest, but it was enough to keep the disoriented goalkeeper from keeping track of the puck's movement.

And already at the end of the period, the top scorer of “Tampa” Braden Point began to feel pain.

The Canadian tried to continue the meeting, but in the course of the second playing segment he was forced to leave the ice.

By this time, the Lightning had already managed to restore equality in the score.

Barry Trotz's wards left the most effective defender of the opponent without care and were instantly punished.

Victor Hedman received a pass near the blue line and fired on goal.

The puck passed Semyon Varlamov and ricocheted from the bar into the net.

The Swede distinguished himself in the fourth playoff match in a row and approached Paul Coffey's record.

In 1983, the Edmonton defense player scored five consecutive knockout rounds.

Only Dustin Baflin can boast of the same achievement, but in 2010 he played as a forward.

The second and most of the third periods passed without goals, and the goalkeepers of the teams came to the fore.

Vasilevsky and Varlamov worked wonders, and the current owner of the Vezina Trophy looked especially bright.

During one of the episodes, he alternately parried the throws of Anthony Beauvillier and Andrew Ladd from killer positions, and then prevented Ryan Poolek from realizing a one-on-one exit.

For three periods, he made a total of 27 saves and was recognized as the first star of the meeting.

“This is the backbone of our team, an important part of it.

He gives us all confidence.

We, of course, try to push the game away from the goal, but he himself absolutely does not make mistakes.

And with quick counterattacks, the opponent acts as a third defender, which greatly facilitates the task.

He played great, and we will continue to do everything to make him comfortable at the goal, ”said Lightning defender Ryan McDonagh on the goalkeeper's performance.

The second star of the meeting was the compatriot of Vasilevsky - Kucherov, who at the decisive moment forced Varlamov to surrender.

The opponents were already starting to prepare for overtime, but nine seconds before the end of the final 20-minute Kucherov responded to McDonagh's pass and attacked from the left throw-in circle.

For the Russian, this puck became the sixth in the current playoffs and the first winning one.

In total, Kucherov's assets were 22 (6 + 16) points.

This allowed him to overtake Colorado striker Mikko Rantanen and Dallas defender Miro Heiskanen to finish third in the scorers' race.

At the moment, he is second only to his teammate Braden Point (8 + 15) and another Avalanche forward Nathan McKinnon (9 + 16).

“It is difficult to describe the emotions after Kucherov's goal.

For those moments you play and work.

It's nice to win under such dramatic circumstances.

Today's match proved once again that our team never surrenders, whatever the situation.

We have a lot of players who are ready to pull matches on their veins.

And I am extremely pleased to be a part of it, ”- said the author of the McDonagh assist.

At the same time, Kucherov himself was extremely modest and noted the merit of his partner in the episode with the decisive goal.

According to him, he foresaw the further actions of the defender, which allowed him to be at the right time in the right place.

“We saw each other.

I knew what he would do, and he probably knew what I would do.

He made an excellent cross pass, and all I had to do was to hit the goal ... Of course, I'm happy, but I'm more happy with the victory, and not with the goal itself.

We play as a team and win as a team.

Any goal is important.

But today our minority played great, Vasilevsky did his job well, we were patient and in the end were rewarded, "Kucherov admitted.

It is worth recalling that in the first match of the series with the Islanders, Vasilevsky and Kucherov also played the role of one of the main creators of success and helped Tampa Bay win a crushing victory with a score of 8: 2.

Andrey reflected 22 of 24 shots on his own goal, and Nikita took a direct part in five goals of the team.

The right striker once distinguished himself and acted as an assistant four times, repeating the record of Alexander Mogilny and Denis Guryanov.

Prior to that, only two Russian hockey players managed to score five points in the Stanley Cup.

In addition, at the end of that game, Kucherov surpassed two achievements belonging to the legendary Martin Saint-Louis.

Until September 8, the Canadian held the first place in Lightning history in all-time playoff goals (33), as well as assists in one Stanley Cup win (15).

Kucherov improved each of the indicators by 1.

In addition, after the first game with the Islanders, Kucherov entered the top ten Russian scorers in the history of the NHL playoffs. With 82 points (34 + 48) he was ahead of Vyacheslav Kozlov (42 + 37), and after the second game he approached the ninth line, which is occupied by Mogilny. The former Buffalo and New Jersey striker has 86 (39 + 47) points. At the same time, in the list of the best domestic snipers, Kucherov has already reached eighth place and caught up in goals with Pavel Bure (35).