Without the help of Kucherov and Sergachev: Vasilevskiy saved 28 shots and saved Tampa Bay from relegation from the Stanley Cup

Vasilevskiy's resilience

On the eve of the fifth game of the series of the first round of the NHL playoffs, Tampa Bay was in a bad position. John Cooper's wards lost three times in a row and were on the verge of relegation, and ahead of them was waiting for the hardest trip to Toronto, where the Maple Leafs were a priori, if a little, but stronger. And in such times, fans tend to expect a bright game from their main stars, who must drag the team in such difficult situations. And in the case of Tampa Bay, it was more likely not about Nikita Kucherov and Braden Point, but about Andrei Vasilevskiy.

In recent years, the Russian goalkeeper has taught fans that at the right time he is able to turn on the "God mode" and literally single-handedly drag the team to success. Since 2020, he has made five extravaganzas in matches where the fate of the Lightning's performance in the Stanley Cup was decided, averaging 94.6% of shots and conceding only 1.52 goals. And on four occasions, he saved the team from defeat, and twice this happened as part of last year's confrontation with the Maple Leafs. Then Vasilevskiy made more than 30 saves in two meetings in a row and led Tampa to the semifinals of the Eastern Conference.

This time the series could not be extended. Vasilevskiy limited himself to 28 saves and conceded twice. In the sixth minute, the three guests pounced on one John Tavares, but not only could not prevent him from making a pass, but also gave space to Morgan Reilly. The attacking defender irresistibly "shot" into the far corner. Almost 50 minutes later, the Russian goalkeeper was forced to capitulate again. This time, one of the best snipers of our time, Auston Matthews, who turned out to be the quickest on the dime, said his weighty word.

True, by this time Toronto was already losing with a score of 1: 3, and subsequently also allowed the opponent to hit an empty net. And oddly enough, none of the leaders of Tampa had anything to do with this. Neither Kucherov, nor Point and Steven Stamkos could provide real help to the team, and representatives of the second and third links took the role of saviors on a par with Vasilevskiy. Anthony Cirelli and Michael Aisimont scored two (1 + 1) points each, and once more Ilya Samsonov was upset by Alex Killorn and Nick Paul, who became the author of the winning goal. And this is symbolic, because it was his accurate hit that allowed the Lightning to break the resistance of their opponents in 2022.

At the same time, Paul did not get into the top three. It included Reilly with Eissimont, who gave by far the best game in the playoffs in his career, and Vasilevskiy. Not only did he finish the match with 93.3% of shots deflected, but he won his 65th Stanley Cup victory and climbed to 12th place in this indicator (the same as the legendary Dominik Hasek). For which he earned praise from the head coach. According to Cooper, after not the most successful performances in recent games, the Russian has demonstrated the ability to cope with pressure.

He noted Vasilevskiy and Cirelli. According to him, since his transfer to the Lightning, the Russian has demonstrated his incredible skill every evening and was the support and leader of the team, which gave impetus to partners and brought them out of the most difficult situations. And two days later, miracles will be expected from him again. On April 30, the series will return to Florida.

The defeat of the Rangers and the triumph of the Golden Knights

The sixth meeting will also be held by teams from New York and New Jersey. The Rangers started the confrontation with the Devils triumphantly and won twice in a row with a total score of 10: 2. But then - how it cut off. In the next three matches, the wards of Gerard Galland did not prevail even once, and the last one completely failed. The visitors made almost half as many shots (23:43), gave the opponent four times to turn on the red light behind their goal, and they themselves could never catch Akira Schmid by surprise.

As a result, the Swiss goalkeeper was recognized as the first star, and his counterpart Igor Shesterkin did not even get into the top three. Although he made 39 saves (92.9%), reaffirming the title of the current holder of the Vezina Trophy. What are his phenomenal saves after the "shots" of Timo Meier and Nico Hischier at point-blank range. But without the support of partners, even he was powerless. The Rangers managed to concede not only in equal compositions and the minority, but even when drawing too much. And in the end, they also allowed us to hit an empty target. Erik Haula scored a brace, with Ondrej Palat and Dawson Mercer scoring once.

Thus, two days later, the Rangers are at risk of completing their campaign for the trophy. And to prevent this from happening, their leaders need to "wake up" and begin to demonstrate the level of hockey that is expected of them. In the meantime, things are not going well for them. Artemi Panarin cannot score points for the fourth meeting in a row, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane have not scored for three, and Mika Zibanejad has not yet scored a single goal at all.

But if the Rangers and Devils have yet to decide the fate of a ticket to the second round of the NHL playoffs, then one of them has already found its owner. The first quarterfinalist of the Stanley Cup was Vegas, which crushed Winnipeg. The wards of Bruce Cassidy failed the start of the round and suffered a crushing defeat (1: 5), but after that they never allowed themselves to prevail. They won the decisive match big (4:1), and all issues were resolved by the middle of the second period, upsetting Connor Hellebike four times. Chandler Stevenson scored a double and was recognized as the first star, and he was accompanied by Mark Stone and William Karlsson. The Canadian broke out with three (1 + 2) points, and the Swede became the author of the team's third goal. It is noteworthy that they achieved this success without Phil Kessel. Over the past 14 years, he has not missed a single game, and his "iron series" in the regular season has a record 1064 meetings. However, this time he did not find a place in the application.