Timely intervention: goals from Tarasenko and Nichushkin helped the Rangers and Colorado win NHL playoffs

Tampa's major defeat

After the next game day of the Stanley Cup, in three more series of the first round, equality in the score was established. And the biggest defeat was suffered by the current finalist of the competition - Tampa Bay. If two days ago, John Cooper's wards smashed Toronto to smithereens (7: 3), now they themselves missed seven times. True, they were able to respond with only two goals scored. And only one of them formally had a hand in the Russian legionnaire.

We are talking about the first goal of the guests, which allowed them to reduce the gap and give their fans hope for a return. In the middle of the second period, the pressure in the middle zone led to a loss on the part of the hosts. Steven Stamkos and Braden Point broke up the Lightning's counterattack, but Ian Cole was chosen as the recipient of the last pass rather than Nikita Kucherov. And they did not lose. The defender had a great understanding of the episode and took Ilya Samsonov by surprise.

However, success did not cause a surge of activity on the part of Tampa and so remained local. By this time, John Cooper's wards were "burning" with a score of 0: 3, and in the next ten minutes they allowed the opponent to upset their goalkeeper three more times. Andrei Vasilevskiy tried with all his might to keep his team afloat and made a total of 30 saves, but his efforts were in vain. At the very end, the Russian was forced to capitulate for the seventh time, finishing the meeting with an extremely low percentage of reflected shots for a goalkeeper of his level (81.1%). At the moment, according to this indicator, he ranks fourth from the end among all participants in the playoffs. Only Samsonov, Vitek Vanecek and Marc-Andre Fleury have worse statistics.

As for the main characters of the match, they were expected to be representatives of the hosts. John Tavares became only the fourth Toronto hockey player in the last 30 years to score a hat-trick in the Stanley Cup. In addition to him, this bar was obeyed by Alexander Mogilny, Wendell Clark and Michael Gartner. Mitchell Marner broke out with a double, and Morgan Reilly scored five assists at once. And Samsonov parried 20 shots and regained his confidence after the fiasco two days ago. In Florida, it will clearly come in handy.

Strong-willed victory of "Colorado"

For defeats at the start of the playoffs, two teams of the Western Conference were rehabilitated. Vegas took revenge on Winnipeg for the defeat in the first match and shipped five goals to Connor Hellebike's goal (5: 2), and Colorado defeated Seattle in a tense struggle. Like two days earlier, the current holders of the trophy failed to start the confrontation and conceded twice by the 14th minute. Both goals were the result of striking counterattacks. But if Justin Schultz and Eeli Tolvanen organized a breakthrough in equal compositions, then Yanni Gourde and Brendan Tanev are in the minority, which is even more offensive.

However, the Avalanche did not break down and by the middle of the second segment restored parity. With a difference of 48 seconds, Artturi Lehkonen and Valery Nichushkin scored, later recognized as the third star of the match. And his goal turned out to be not only important, but also quite beautiful. After receiving a pass from Evan Rodriguez, the Russian rolled out one-on-one with Philipp Grubauer and easily dealt with him. In one motion, he put the goalie on the ice, and then sent the puck into the net.

Until the end of regular time, the teams continued to bombard each other's gates. In total, they made 70 shots and 29 of them were on target for Colorado. And if it were not for the magnificent game of Alexander Georgiev, one could not have dreamed of winning. Alexander scored a number of spectacular saves, and made the most memorable in the last seconds of the second period. The guests organized a three-on-one exit and with a series of short passes almost left the Russian goalkeeper out of work. But he miraculously managed to move to the opposite corner and prevent Jordan Eberle from scoring, causing a storm of applause in the stands of the Ball Arena.

Grubauer also performed superbly and significantly surpassed Georgiev in the number of saves (38:27), but failed to help his teammates wait until overtime. After Lehkonen's mid-range shot, he deflected the puck straight to Devon Toews' stick. The Canadian was merciless, "shooting" exactly in the far nine.

The unenviable position of "New Jersey"

At the end of the day, only the Rangers managed to strengthen the advantage in the series, which skated through New Jersey for the second time in a row. Gerard Galland's men again prevailed with a score of 5: 1 - and this is not the only similarity between the two matches. Chris Kreider again scored a double and set an NHL record for the number of goals in the opening meetings of the Stanley Cup, and the beginning of the defeat of the hosts was laid by Vladimir Tarasenko, who also earned the title of third star. But if then one of the assistants was Artemy Panarin, then this time the role of projectile carriers was played by other partners. The leader of the Rangers this time was not so productive and did not score points, only slightly improving the utility indicator.

As for Tarasenko, his puck was extremely important, because it was she who allowed the guests to restore equality in the score and became the starting point on the way to a major victory. By the 26th minute, the Rangers managed to concede in the minority and conceded, but the former St. Louis striker lit a red light behind the opponent's goal. And thanks to this, he not only surpassed Alexander Ovechkin in the number of goals in the playoffs over the past ten years, but also climbed to sixth place in the list of the best Russian snipers of the Stanley Cup (43). Vladimir left behind Vyacheslav Kozlov and Pavel Datsyuk at once, and in the near future he can catch up with Alexei Kovalev. He has two more accurate hits.

In the remaining time, the wards of Gerard Galland literally crushed the enemy. In addition to Kreider, who twice took part in the implementation of the majority, Patrick Kane and Kaapo Kakko scored, while all attempts by the Devils to catch Igor Shesterkin by surprise were in vain. The current Vezina Trophy winner made 22 saves and cemented his status as one of the most reliable goalkeepers in the tournament. At the moment, his reliability coefficient is 1.0 (first place), and the percentage of reflected shots is 96.1% (second). Only Minnesota's reserve goalie Filip Gustavsson has a higher score (96.2%).

Over time, angry with another major defeat, the Devils hockey players began to provoke brawls on the ice more and more often, as a result of which the already not the most "clean" match turned into one big massacre. In total, the teams earned 136 penalty minutes and only 14 of them were written out before the middle of the third period. Ten representatives of both teams received a top ten at once, including the top scorer of the championship Adam Fox. The Rangers defender has already managed to score six assists, but could not help but respond to the challenge of Timo Meier. But this is unlikely to spoil the mood of New Yorkers. After all, at the beginning of next week, they can issue a ticket to the semifinals of the Eastern Conference.