Two goals and a winning pass: how Kucherov helped Tampa win the third match with Carolina in the Stanley Cup

The Tampa Bay Lightning is even closer to the Stanley Cup semi-finals thanks to Nikita Kucherov.

The Russian hockey player scored a double and became the author of the winning pass in the fourth match of the confrontation with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Florida club is leading 3-1 in the series, and it only needs to win one meeting to advance to the next round.

Previous games were united by how much attention both teams paid to defense and overshadowed emotions. As a result, all responsibility for the result fell on the shoulders of the goalkeepers, who have not yet conceded more than two goals in three periods. But in the fourth match, the hockey players put aside their composure. It is significant that even before the starting throw-in, Blake Coleman and Warren Vogel grappled in a fight and were sent off, so that the teams began the match with four outfield players.

In the first period, Tampa still played more collected, but for a long time could not translate their advantage into a goal, until Andrei Svechnikov made a mistake in his zone.

He did not cope with the reception of the puck, and the owners of the ice immediately played a combination, which was completed by Braden Point.

But after the break, "Carolina" quickly responded with two washers.

The first of them was just helped by Svechnikov, who scored points in all matches of the series.

In the middle of the period, “Tampa” won back thanks to a goal by Stephen Stamkos in the majority, but less than three minutes passed, as “Carolina” led already with a score of 4: 2.

Svechnikov again took part in the goal of Dougie Hamilton, and he not only gave the pass, but also blocked the view of Andrei Vasilevsky.

The Russian goalkeeper immediately missed Jacob Slavin's shot.

This gave "Carolina" a chance to equalize the score in the series, but she did not use it. Nikita Kucherov, who played his 100th Stanley Cup match, decisively opposed this. He waited a long time for the moment to punish his rivals for the incident with Brady Shey, who hit the Russian on the head at the beginning of the match, but received no punishment. Only half an hour after this episode, Kucherov accurately aimed from the right circle, realizing the next majority of his team.

Tyler Johnson soon equalized. In the second period, the fans have already seen seven goals, but there were still almost three minutes before the break, and besides, Svechnikov got his third removal in the match. That was enough for Tampa to regain the lead. 23 seconds before the siren Kucherov got the puck in the center, and two Carolina players were already under it, but he decided not to shoot himself, but to give it to Stamkos, who confidently scored a double.

In the third period, “Tampa” slowed down and began to play according to the score, but did not give up quick counterattacks.

In one of them Kucherov escaped together with Ondřej Chamber and powerfully shot in the center.

He scored his 41st goal in the playoffs and beat Alexander Mogilny in the list of the best Russian snipers in the Stanley Cup, moving up to a clean seventh place.

Only one puck is not enough for Kucherov to reach Vyacheslav Kozlov and Pavel Datsyuk.

This goal was the last of the match and brought Tampa a 6-4 victory.

“You saw that the guys reacted well to what was happening, the bench remained calm.

We knew what to do, we just had to switch and start playing right.

Play reliably in your own zone, create chances at the opponent's goal.

And so it happened in the end, "the Russian said after the match, commenting on the Tampa comeback in the second period.

With three points per game, Kucherov has strengthened his status as the top scorer of the current playoffs - his closest rival Nathan McKinnon from Colorado Avalanche is four points behind him.

In his first 100 Stanley Cup matches, Kucherov scored 112 points, and among the current players, only Sidney Crosby, representing the Pittsburgh Penguins, could perform better than him.

Tampa head coach John Cooper paid tribute to Kucherov and named him the best player of his team in the last match.

“Today he was everywhere and was probably the best player on the ice.

When Kucherov does things like he does today, the boundaries of his capabilities are blurred.

It was nice to watch him play, because we needed him, ”the specialist noted.

The next match Tampa and Carolina will play on June 8 in Raleigh. According to its results, the club of Kucherov and Vasilevsky will be able to become the first who made it to the Stanley Cup semifinals this season.