Voracek closes the NHL top ten with 17 passes, but is the best in the number of first assists (15). Great overview and dexterous hands confirmed in St. Louis, when in the 42nd minute he found Adam Boqvist with a backhand pass in the left circle and he reduced it to 2: 3. The home team, who turned from 0: 1 to 3: 1 in the second period, but countered with another three-goal whirlwind to 6: 2. Pavel Bučněvič and Ivan Barbašev scored two goals in the winners’ jersey.
The main architect of the Colorado win was Mikko Rantanen: he scored a hat-trick and also scored a goal. The elite striker scored the opening two goals in overpowering games and increased from a quick counterattack to 5: 1 in the 56th minute. Rittich, who collected only three times in the previous two matches, was also helpless in other goal events. Bowen Byram, Valery Nichushkin and Tyler Jost scored in the open goal after successful fights.
Although the elite center Nathan MacKinnon is missing, but even without it he has the highest average goals scored per match and in the first period he overshot Nashville 14: 4. “We started weakly,” said guest striker Mikael Granlund. “In the five-on-five game, we played well in the beginning, but we didn’t manage to weaken. It decided. Once we lost 0: 2, we couldn’t get to the game we wanted to show,” he added.
Detroit was closer to winning in the regular playing time, for Buffalo he equalized to 2: 2 until Jeff Skinner flows into the game without a goalkeeper. But the extension lasted only 26 seconds. Hronek passed in his own zone to Dylan Larkin, who passed the puck on the right side to the running Lucas Raymond. The most productive newcomer to the competition decided with a shot from the intermediate ring and scored the 21st point of the season (9 + 12). The victor’s striker Filip Zadina, who had his 22nd birthday on the day of the match, fired four shots but did not score.
Faksa entered the statistics in the 19th minute with the goal, after which Dallas led 2: 1. The shot from the right circle did not fit the Czech center, but it formed a barrier in front of the goal and Jacob Peterson made the mark. Arizona leveled for the second time, but found no answer on Jason Robertson’s shot. Karel Vejmelka played the role of a substitute goalkeeper in the losers’ jersey.
Daniel Vladař was in the same position, picking up a clean bill for the last two starts for Calgary. The Czech goalkeeper watched from the substitution as his teammates started well against Winnipeg and led 2: 0 in the eighth minute. In the next course, however, only the opponent scored the goals and won 4: 2. Kyle Connor contributed to the two-shot turn.
Florida was able to set a new NHL record of home wins since the start of the season on Saturday. But Seattle prevented them from writing in history. The newcomer to the competition won 4: 1 first this year on the Ice Panthers, whose series stopped at number 11. Paradoxically, the home team lost its record and the home invincibility of their former goalkeeper Chris Driedger, whom they did not cover in the expansion draft in the summer.
“I don’t feel any resentment,” said Driedger, who was named the first star of the evening with 33 hits. “It was a big challenge to keep the whole match focused. I know a lot of guys, I liked to see them. I had a family in the auditorium. It was a specific match, but we managed it,” he was pleased. Jordan Eberle scored two Seattle goals.
| NHL results |
|---|
| Florida – Seattle 1:4 (1:2, 0:0, 0:2) |
| Goals: 7. Hörnqvist – 3rd and 46th Eberle, 11th Donato, 57th Oleksiak. Shots on goal: 34:27. Attendance: 15,305. Match Stars: 1. Driedger, 2. Eberle (both Seattle), 3. Hörnqvist (Florida). |
| Detroit – Buffalo 3: 2 in overtime (0: 0, 2: 1, 0: 1 – 1: 0) |
| Goals: 30. Rowney, 32. P. Suter, 61. Raymond (Hronek) – 26. Cozens, 59. J. Skinner. Shots on goal: 41:28. Attendance: 18,050. Match Stars: 1. Raymond (Detroit), 2. Tokarski (Buffalo), 3. P. Suter (Detroit). |
| Pittsburgh – Montreal 3:6 (0:0, 0:1, 3:5) |
| Goals: 43. Rodrigues, 58. Carter, 59. Crosby – 59. and 60. J. Anderson, 36. Drouin, 44. Dvorak, 47. Lehkonen, 60. Toffoli. Shots on goal: 50:33. Attendance: 17,985. Match stars: 1. J. Anderson, 2. Allen (both Montreal), 3. Rodrigues (Pittsburgh). |
| Vegas – Edmonton 2:3 (0:2, 1:1, 1:0) |
| Goals: 31. Stephenson, 45. R. Smith – 18. Nugent-Hopkins, 20. Hyman, 27. Puljujärvi. Shots on goal: 38:30. Attendance: 18,381. Match Stars: 1. Hyman (Edmonton), 2. Stephenson, 3. Marchessault (both Vegas). |
| Los Angeles – Ottawa 4:2 (1:1, 2:1, 1:0) |
| Goals: 31st and 60th Grundström, 5th Arvidsson, 34th Kaliyev – 20th Del Zotto, 39th C. Brown. Shots on goal: 37:32. Attendance: 15,406. Match Stars: 1. Kopitar, 2. Arvidsson, 3. M. Anderson (all Los Angeles). |
| St. Louis – Columbus 6:3 (0:1, 3:0, 3:2) |
| Goals: 21st and 51st Bucernich, 22nd and 53rd Barbashev, 34th Cyrus, 46th Faulk – 42nd and 58th Boqvist (first Voracek), 13th Jenner. Shots on goal: 33:27. Attendance: 18,096. Match stars: 1. Bučněvič, 2. Barbašev, 3. Tarasenko (all St. Louis). |
| Arizona – Dallas 2:3 (1:2, 1:1, 0:0) |
| Goals: 4. Roussel, 25. Boyd – 1. Hintz, 19. J. Peterson (Fax), 29. Robertson. Shots on goal: 27:29. Attendance: 10,839. Match Stars: 1. Robertson, 2. Hintz (both Dallas), 3. Boyd (Arizona). |
| Colorado – Nashville 6:2 (2:0, 1:1, 3:1) |
| Goals: 5th, 18th and 56th Rantanen, 27th Byram, 47th Nishushkin, 59th Jost – 25th Kunin, 57th Duchene. Shots on goal: 35:28. David Rittich caught the whole game for Nashville, collected six goals from 35 shots and had a success rate of 82.9 percent. Attendance: 17,050. Match stars: 1. Rantanen, 2. Makar, 3. Landeskog (all Colorado). |
| Calgary – Winnipeg 2:4 (2:1, 0:1, 0:2) |
| Goals: 1. M. Tkachuk, 8. E. Lindholm – 17. and 56. Connor, 25. Stastny, 59. Copp. Shots on goal: 36:28. Attendance: 17,036. Match Stars: 1. Connor (Winnipeg), 2. E. Lindholm (Calgary), 3. Hellebuyck (Winnipeg). |
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