Despite the efforts of Shesterkin: Vasilevsky, Kucherov and Sergachev led Tampa to the Stanley Cup final for the third time in a row

In the run-up to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals series, Tampa Bay were in great spirits.

John Cooper's wards came to their senses after a difficult start to the confrontation and took over the Rangers three times in a row, including at Madison Square Garden, thanks to which they interrupted their unbeaten streak on home ice of seven meetings.

And in order to reach the decisive round of the Stanley Cup for the third time in a row, the Lightning had only to break the resistance of rivals at their native Amalie Arena, where they had not known defeat since May 7.

Then Nikita Kucherov and the company were defeated by Toronto (2:5), but subsequently surpassed their opponents six times in a row.

Everything was complicated only by the fact that Tampa Bay needed to defeat the most uncompromising team of the current playoffs, which performed best in critical situations.

So far, the Rangers have been on the brink of elimination five times, but miraculously escaped each time.

First, they fought back from a score of 1: 3 in the series with Pittsburgh, and then coped with the Carolinas in seven matches.

And in the event of another success, they could repeat the achievement of Minnesota in the 2003 season.

Back then, the Wild had the upper hand six times when a loss threatened to end the fight for the Stanley Cup.

And in these meetings, not only the best scorers of the team, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox, but also Igor Shesterkin showed themselves superbly.

One of the contenders for the NHL Most Valuable Hockey Player award was impressive in the decisive confrontations, and his phenomenal performances were in many ways the reason that the Rangers continued to pursue the trophy.

In five matches, the Russian made a total of 173 saves and reflected 93% of the shots, missing only 13 times.

The Russian goalkeeper of the Rangers did not lower the bar this time either, although he had an extremely difficult time.

Tampa Bay dominated the home arena and in the first period alone disturbed Shesterkin 11 times.

Moreover, in one of the episodes, he himself helped the owners organize a dangerous episode.

An unsuccessful pass attempt ended with an interception, as a result of which the experienced Patrick Maroon got the opportunity to shoot from close range.

However, Igor himself corrected his own mistake and averted the threat.

Subsequently, Shesterkin repeatedly rescued partners in stalemate situations.

Pierre-Edouard Bellmare and the same Maroon “shot” him from a penny, Zak Bogosyan and Anthony Cirelli (twice) went one on one with him, and Nikita Kucherov threw an almost empty near corner after a filigree pass by Stephen Stamkos.

However, the Russian continued to perform one miracle after another and leave the team a chance to win in the most important confrontation.

As a result, for the entire meeting, he made 29 saves, thanks to which he came out on the second line in the history of the club in terms of the number of saves (668) in a single playoff draw, quite a bit behind record holder Henrik Lundqvist (683).

But in the middle of the second period, even the main contender for the Vezina Trophy turned out to be powerless.

All the same Stamkos broke through on the right side, took cover behind the defender of the guests and launched the puck into the far corner with his hands.

Because of a partner, Shesterkin did not see the moment of the throw and did not have time to react.

Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev, who scored a goal and a pass in the previous match, acted as assistants.

As it turned out later, it was Stamkos who was destined to become one of the main characters in the sixth match of the series.

Moreover, in the end of the third period, he managed to distinguish himself both with a minus sign and a plus sign.

Less than nine minutes before the final siren, the captain of the hosts earned a removal for the delay and left the partners in the minority.

At the same time, Alexi Lafrenier provoked him to violate it - the same one with whom he started a fight at the end of the previous meeting.

Feeling the opponent's hand on himself, the young Canadian fell too spectacularly, but the judges still issued a small fine to his offender.

By this point, Andrei Vasilevsky, although he had repeatedly entered the game, managed to mark himself with only a couple of really bright saves.

At the beginning of the third period, Jacob Truba threw an unpleasant shot from a distance, and Andrew Kopp almost finished off with a penny, but the Floridians' goalkeeper managed.

However, in the minority, he had to work hard.

He did not let either Zibanejad or Chris Kreider score, but Frank Vatrano could not cope with the long-range “shot”.

He was the first on the puck after the face-off and clicked exactly into the far corner.

As in the case of Shesterkin, the goalkeeper's view was blocked by a teammate.

Wards of Gerard Gallan restored parity, but after 21 seconds they conceded again.

And the goal turned out to be funny.

Kucherov brought Stamkos to a rendezvous with Shesterkin, the Russian repulsed the Canadian's throw at close range, but the puck still crossed the line from the attacker.

According to the goalkeeper, the opponent who drove into him prevented him from fixing the “shell”, but on the repeat it is clear that he flew out of the trap even before the contact between the hockey players.

After the video review, the goal was still counted.

In the remaining time, the Rangers desperately tried to send the match into overtime, but their attempts were in vain.

Vasilevsky stood as a wall, already traditionally unmistakably performing in the key confrontations of the series.

But Artemy Panarin did not look the best, remembered for only three shots on target, one power move and removal for a game with a high stick.

The New Yorkers' highest-paid hockey player ended the meeting with a negative utility indicator ("-1"), and at the end of the playoffs he became only the team's third scorer (6 + 10).

Above him are Fox (5 + 8) and Zibanejad (10 + 14).

In turn, an assist to Stamkos helped Kucherov not only catch up with Fox and reach fourth place in the list of scorers in the current Stanley Cup season, but also score 150 points in the playoffs for his career.

Among Russians, only Sergei Fedorov (176) and Evgeni Malkin (180) have more.

In turn, Vasilevskiy won his 61st playoff game and moved into 14th place in NHL history by this indicator, equaling Henrik Lundqvist and Tom Barasso.

And if successful in the final confrontation with Colorado, he will catch up with Dominik Hasek himself.