The fourth match of the Stanley Cup final series could be, if not decisive, then at least one of the key ones in the confrontation between Tampa Bay and Dallas.

After a failure in the debut game, John Cooper's wards scored an excellent move and were able to defeat their rivals twice, and both times quite confidently.

Goalkeeper Anton Khudobin no longer seemed so impenetrable, and the Stars' leaders Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin never scored a single point.

Against their background, Nikita Kucherov with Braden Point and Victor Hedman looked more than impressive and not in vain were considered the main contenders for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Despite the difficult situation, the Rick Bowness team decided not to force the game and rather carefully spent the first period.

In the previous match, "Dallas" inflicted 16 shots on goal by Andrei Vasilevsky, and this time he was limited to only three.

“Tampa” looked more active and worried Khudobin eight times, but left for the break as a catch-up.

The reason for this was the incredible implementation of the opponent, who twice managed to upset the owner of the Vezin Trophy.

First, John Klingberg took advantage of the Floridians' hesitation when trying to make a shift and “shot” the goalkeeper, and then the first-line hockey players carried out an excellent counterattack.

Benn won the fight at the side, beat Alexander Radulov and brought Joe Pavelski to the shock position.

The American seized his chance to come in second in playoff goals among Americans.

According to this indicator, he caught up with Joe Mullen (60), and Brett Hull (103) is on the first line by a large margin.

Radulov has distinguished himself in six of his last seven meetings and has risen to 11th place in the list of scorers.

In his asset was 18 (8 + 10) points, which allowed him to bypass his compatriot and teammate Denis Guryanov, as well as catch up with Pavelski.

In addition, Alexander has gained 49 (21 + 28) career points.

Vladimir Tarasenko has the same number.

A minute and a half before the break, Dallas were leading 2-0, and Pavelski caught up with Braden Point in the sniper race (11 goals each), but in just 220 seconds of playing time, everything changed.

The Canadian made a double, which allowed him not only to restore parity, but also to break away from the American again.

First, he realized a one-on-one exit with Khudobin, and then distinguished himself in the majority.

Moreover, one of the creators of the second washer was Nikita Kucherov.

The Russian found Alex Killorn with a pass, and he, in turn, redirected it to his compatriot.

“Someday the pucks should have started flying into the goal.

Our special teams did everything right, they were simply turned away from luck, "the NHL press service quotes Cooper.

However, the events of the second period did not end there.

Before the siren, the teams once upset each other's gates.

And if at “Dallas” Tyler Seguin, assisting Corey Perry, finally reminded of himself, then at “Tampa Bay” Kucherov did not calm down.

At the end of the 20-minute, he again came to the realization of the numerical advantage and executed the thinnest pass to Yanni Gurda.

Nikita showed that he would shoot, but instead played the Canadian neatly.

Mikhail Sergachev also took part in the combination, gaining the first point in the final.

“We know that we can always rely on our leaders, but we also want to score.

Even if this is not necessarily our main job, ”said Gourd.

Kucherov has 25 assists in the current playoffs.

Thus, he set the record for the number of passes in one Stanley Cup draw among the extreme forwards, and also came in sixth in history for this indicator.

Only Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky ranked higher, having surpassed this bar four times in their careers.

As for Kucherov, he assisted his partners 57 times in 88 matches, which is the eighth result among Russian hockey players.

Nikita overtook Alexei Kovalev and approached Alexander Ovechkin.

The captain of the Washington Capitals has 62 assists in his track record, and Sergei Fedorov leads with 124.

In addition, Kucherov gained 32 (7 + 25) points in the current Stanley Cup, which allowed him not only to maintain the lead in the scorers' race, but also to catch up with Evgeny Kuznetsov in the number of points in one playoff.

Among Russians, he is second only to the champion in the person of Evgeny Malkin.

In the 2008/09 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins forward hit 36 ​​points (14 goals, 22 assists), helping him not only lead his team to the trophy, but also secure his victory in the Conn Smythe Trophy vote.

But if Kucherov subsequently could no longer replenish his scoring account, then Sergachev was marked by another effective pass.

In the middle of the final stretch, he helped Killorn get a handsome goal.

The Canadian got the puck outside the goal, drove it around and threw it right into the far nine, despite resistance from defender Isa Lindell.

With seven assists, Mikhail took 11th place in the list of the best defensive assistants.

It is headed by Miro Heiskanen (19).

Thus, with less than 14 minutes before the end of the match, Tampa took the lead, but also conceded in the end.

Dallas regained parity with Victor Hedman and Kevin Shattenkirk as the episode's biggest losers.

One of the main contenders for the prize for the best hockey player in the playoffs played extremely poorly in defense and allowed Pavelski to leave himself out of work with one trick.

Joe didn’t shoot at the goal very accurately, but the puck ricocheted from another Lightning defender behind Vasilevsky.

However, in overtime, the Tampa Bay defenders were able to rehabilitate themselves for their failure.

True, rivals helped them in this.

At first, “Dallas” could not take advantage of the removal of Mikhail Sergachev and excel in the majority, and then Benn himself received a two-minute penalty.

Cooper's wards took advantage of the gift and realized the numerical superiority for the third time in the match, and Hedman helped Shattenkirk to excel.

The American got a pass in the right throw-in circle and threw it directly into the lower left corner.

“Many thanks to the guys who came out in the minority.

They did a brilliant job killing our fines, including mine in overtime.

We all understand what is at stake, and everyone tries to contribute ... We need to let our emotions settle down.

Go to eat, go to bed and have time to recover by tomorrow's game.

You need to make an effort to calm yourself down and not burn out when the common victory is so close, ”Sergachev said.

Tampa Bay beat Dallas and stopped just a step away from winning the Stanley Cup, while Vasilevsky set a playoff record that cannot be surpassed if it is held in the usual format.

Thanks to two victories in the qualifying round, Andrey has already won 17 matches.