Throughout the NHL Eastern Conference Finals Rangers – Tampa Bay we talked a lot about Russian players. Nikita Kucherov scored three goals in the first four games of the series (in the previous 11 games he had four goals), Artemi Panarin (2+3) regained his best form in the playoffs, Igor Shesterkin set the Stanley Cup record with 600 saves (18 games) and Andrei Vasilevsky coldly began dragging almost everything through the Lightning’s gates, beginning in Game 3.
Against this background, another Russian legionnaire, the defender of “lightning” was completely invisible Mikhail Sergachev. In the first 15 games, he scored only 4 (0 + 4) points, more often than other Tampa players, he allowed losses in the defensive zone (7 times), and could only boast of the best utility indicator among all his Lightning colleagues (“+ four”). Moreover, Sergachev, who is first and foremost a shooter, hasn’t scored a single goal in the last 22 games.
And today in Game 5 of the Eastern Finals at 2-2 in the series, when a win would have been a huge win for either team to reach the final of the Stanley Cup, Sergachev delivered the best playoff game of his career. Moreover, the Russian joined the game at the right time – when Tampa, playing slush and slush hockey tie with Rangers, was 0:1 down at the end of the second period.
Two and a half minutes before the second break, Nick Paul tossed the puck into the New York area, encountering several martial arts along the way, it swept the perimeter to the blue line, where Sergachev picked it up. The moment the Russian got into a shooting position, Corey Perry completely shut off Shesterkin’s visibility, and a pair of Bron-Schneider defenders didn’t help their goalkeeper in any way. Sergachev’s direct puck flew into the nearest corner.
The third period was split about evenly: at first Tampa had a serious advantage, but then the Rangers took the puck, creating two wonderful moments. In the first case, Vasilevsky saved the Lightning, who managed to repel a point-blank shot from Ryan Lindgren, and five minutes before the end, Ryan Strome, after a cool combination of the Panarin-Kopp combination, missed epic, not hitting an empty corner of the goal from close range.
The Lightning have more than once in the playoffs (including the series with the Rangers) decided games in their favor in the final minutes of regulation. And after Strome’s miss, they didn’t miss their chance: two minutes from the end of the third period, Tampa repeated the rally with Sergachev’s shot from the blue line, and he didn’t miss. . As it became clear later, the puck flew into the goal from the knee of Ondrej Palat, who together with Steven Stamkos organized powerful traffic past Shesterkin.
A minute later, Brandon Heigl hit an empty net, which allowed Kucherov to score 22 points in this qualifier and to be, with Cale Makar, in fifth place on the list of top scorers. In total, during his Stanley Cup career, the Russian has already scored 149 (51+98) points, thanks to which he entered the top 30 of the most productive players in the history of the NHL playoffs.
Vasilevsky stopped 24 shots and was recognized as the second star of the game – Sergachev was in first place. Andrey became the 16th goaltender in Stanley Cup Playoff history to score 60 career wins. The day after tomorrow, Vasilevsky will have a chance to be in the top 15, and Tampa will have a great opportunity to advance to the season finale for the third straight time.
NHL. Playoffs
New York Rangers (New York) – Tampa Bay Lightning (Tampa) – 1:3 (0:0, 1:1, 0:2)
Goals: Lindgren, 30:29. —Sergachev, 37:34. Chambers, 58:10. Hagel, 59:01
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
