Kuzmenko and Sergachev's assistant doubles, Orlov's two points and Ovechkin's pass: what was remembered for the last day of the NHL regular season

Ovechkin's return

One of the main events of the final day of the NHL regular season promised to take place as part of the match between two representatives of the Eastern Conference - Washington and New Jersey. Alexander Ovechkin, who missed three games due to injury, returned to action and took part in the skating before the confrontation with the Devils, thereby actually announcing his return to the ice. As a result, the Russian captain of the "capitals" came out in the same link with Niklas Bäckström and Craig Smith and even scored a pass, but it is impossible to call his performance triumphant. And there are a couple of reasons for this.

One of them is the disappointing defeat of the Capitals, who ended one of their worst seasons in recent years on a minor note. For the first time since 2014, they failed to qualify for the playoffs and probably wanted to please their fans with a victory over one of the strongest teams in the East. And at first, everything worked out perfectly. By the beginning of the second period, the hosts were leading with a difference of three goals and could have focused on keeping the score, but did not succeed. Until the end of regular time, Peter Laviolette's wards allowed their counterparts to restore parity, and 27 seconds before the end of overtime they missed for the fourth time in a row. Three Washington field hockey players not only did nothing to stop Luke Hughes from breaking through to the goal, but also allowed him to play on the finish. And one of them was Ovechkin.

As a result, Alexander spent about 20 minutes on the ice and again found himself in the "minus" at the end of the meeting ("-2"), and also failed to replenish his sniper account and take another step towards conquering Wayne Gretzky's record. However, he did not leave empty-handed. The Russian helped Rasmus Sandin score and reached the mark of 33 assists for the championship. True, for him it was hardly a consolation.

Benefits of Kuzmenko and Sergachev

Unlike Washington, Vancouver, which failed the regular season, still managed to present its fans, albeit a small, but gift. Although he was very close to repeating the fate of his colleagues from the capital of the United States. Rick Tocchet's wards also allowed opponents from Arizona to recoup from 1: 4 and bring the match to overtime, but they were still stronger there (5: 4). And thanks to this, they broke away from St. Louis, finishing on the 11th line in the West table.

The success of the Canucks was largely due to the bright play of Conor Garland, who scored a hat-trick. Moreover, he scored two of the three goals with the support of Andriy Kuzmenko. And if in the creation of the first of them his merit was minimal - the Russian only delivered the puck to the opponent's zone during the draw of the majority, after which the main work was done by Anthony Beauvillier, then the second was largely the result of his successful actions. It was he who developed the attack of the guests and actually brought Kyle Burroughs to the striking position, under the "shot" of which the American substituted his stick.

Thus, Kuzmenko scored an assistant double for the sixth time and finished the season as Vancouver's fourth top scorer (39 + 35). Only Quinn Hughes (7 + 69), J.T. Miller (32 + 50) and Elias Petterson (39 + 63) were above him. And if he had not turned 26 years old at the time of the start of the championship, he would have been the main contender for the award for the best newcomer - the Calder Trophy. But due to the peculiarities of the regulations, it is likely to go to Matty Beniers, who scored almost two dozen points less (24 + 33).

Tampa also completed the championship triumphantly, leaving no stone unturned from Detroit on its ice. John Cooper's wards sent five unanswered goals to the opponent's goal, and Russian legionnaires were involved in two of them. Once again, it was not one of the NHL's top scorers, Nikita Kucherov, who made a greater contribution, but Mikhail Sergachev. If the forward was limited to only one pass, then the defender burst out with two.

First, both Russians took part in the realization of the numerical advantage. Sergachev brought Kucherov to a striking position, and Braden Point turned out to be the quickest on the dime and succeeded in finishing off. A few minutes later, Mikhail helped the Canadian to score a double. With a gorgeous pass from behind the goal, he organized a counterattack by the Lightning, which resulted in a hit on empty target by the Red Wings.

Thanks to this, Sergachev not only became the second best assistant of the team (54), losing to Kucherov (83), but also took eighth place in the list of the best defenders in the NHL. And this is more than an outstanding achievement. So, a year ago, it was located only on the 34th line.

Dmitry Orlov could well have crept into the number of leaders in this indicator if his exchange to Boston had taken place not at the end of February, but earlier. At the new place, the Russian defenseman opened up from a new side and during this period broke out with 17 (4 + 13) points, which is the 15th result in the league among all hockey players in the defensive line. He scored another couple of points in the final confrontation of the tournament with Montreal, where he not only acted as a "carrier of shells", but also scored himself.

In both cases, Orlov was helped to distinguish himself by his unexpected and at the same time timely connections on the left flank, which put the Canadiens hockey players in a stupor. In the middle of the second period, he retrained as a winger and took Sam Montembeault by surprise with a powerful shot under the crossbar, and nine minutes before the final siren assisted David Pastrnak. And he allowed him to catch up with Kucherov in the scorers table (both - 113 each). True, a higher third place was guaranteed to the Czech by his sniper exploits. He scored 61 goals and lost only to the irrepressible Connor McDavid, who had one of the best seasons in history (64 + 89).

Masterpieces by Panarin and Provorov

Other Russian legionnaires also pleased their personal fans. So, Artemi Panarin, although he could not bring the Rangers a victory in the confrontation with Toronto (2: 3), scored a handsome goal, which became for him the 100th for the New Yorkers. During the implementation of the majority, he, in the style of Ovechkin, remained in the left faceoff circle and hammered the puck into the net with a powerful click. And thanks to this, he not only became the third star of the match, but also broke into clear first place in the list of the team's top scorers (29 + 63), just one point ahead of Mika Zibanejad. By the way, in terms of assists, he also became the best, and even with a more solid margin from his closest competitor. Adam Fox assisted his teammates exactly 60 times.

At the end of the regular season, Ivan Provorov also played out. Two days ago, he scored two assists, and this time he became the author of the winning goal in overtime. And it also turned out to be a masterpiece. The Philadelphia hockey player burst into the Chicago zone at speed, removed star defenseman Seth Jones with one feint, and then left goalkeeper Alex Stalock out of work. The Flyers won (5-4) and spoiled Jonathan Toews' farewell to his native club. After the end of the championship, he leaves the Blackhawks, in the camp of which he spent 15 seasons and won three Stanley Cups.

This day was also significant for Yegor Sokolov. Five days ago, the Ottawa rookie scored his first goal in the NHL, and today he chalked up his first assist. It was he who helped Dylan Gambrell restore parity in the match with Buffalo, but he could not bring victory to his teammates. The same cannot be said about Yakov Trenin. In a meeting with Minnesota, he interrupted the "dry" series and thereby allowed Nashville to break the opponent's resistance.

Evgeny Dadonov was involved in the only accurate throw of Dallas in the meeting with St. Louis. And although in the end he entered the protocol as an assistant, initially he was going to be included in it in a different status. But his point-blank shot hit the post, after which Wyatt Johnston worked on the finish.