In the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs, Ondřej Palát contributed a goal and an assist to the New Jersey hockey players’ 8:4 victory over Carolina. The Devils reduced the series to 1:2, and goalkeeper Vítek Vaněček also helped them to the first point with 26 saves and assists.
At the beginning of the game, New Jersey survived a goalless chance from Martin Nečas, who hit the crossbar, and then launched a cannonade.
The Devils made it 4-0 in the 21st minute from a counterattack that Palat started by throwing the puck into the zone, where the strong Nico Hischier made his way through the finishing action.
The Czech forward entered the statistics for the second time in the power play, when he closed the scoring in the 51st minute with a shot without preparation from the right circle.
At the same time, Palát became the fourth Czech player to surpass one hundred points in the NHL playoffs (51+50). Before him, Patrik Eliáš (125), David Krejčí (128) and Jaromír Jágr (201) conquered this goal.
In the opening two games, Vaněček replaced Akira Schmid during the game, this time he was given the confidence to catch from the beginning for the first time in the series. He was not responsible for the conceded goals.
The opponent even beat him three times when he was weakened: in two cases from an escape and once from a free kick.
The Czech goalkeeper scored the assist after he blocked the puck behind the goal for John Marino, whose pass was converted by Miles Wood from the break to make it 6:2.
But the main hero of New Jersey was Jack Hughes, who scored two goals and set up two more. “From the beginning of the match, we were set up correctly from the first to the last player. We won a lot of personal battles, we skated well. That’s exactly our game,” boasted Hughes.
Carolina did not follow up on home games, which it dominated with a score of 11-2. “We didn’t play well. I don’t know what else to say. I’ve never seen us play like this. But you have to appreciate the performance of the opponent. From the first throw-in, they went for the win,” said coach Rod Brind’Amour.
“We knew they were going to come at us, but we looked surprised. We were slow in everything, puck-handling, skating and tackling. We were missing inches everywhere. Once they got the lead, they played more relaxed and their style, while our game fell apart ,” added Jordan Staal.
Thanks to a pass from Radek Gudas, Florida beat Toronto 3-2 in overtime, leads 3-0 in games and is one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals. David Kämpf scored one goal for the losers.
Toronto led 1-0 and 2-1. Sam Lafferty opened the scoring from a two-on-one count, to whom Kämpf presented the puck in goal position. The Canadian club’s second goal was scored by Erik Gustafsson.
Florida equalized with hits from Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe, whose equipment bounced off Gudas’ shot from the blue line. The match was decided by Sam Reinhart in 63:02.
“In the first few minutes of the game, we got into some turnovers and scored a goal. I liked the way we started. But Florida got better after that. They tightened up and defended the midfield well. We didn’t create many chances after that,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. .
In the history of the NHL, only four teams have turned the situation around from 0:3. “We don’t give up, we still believe,” added the coach. Starting in the second period, goalkeeper No. 1 Ilya Samsonov was missing, who retired due to injury.
Seattle blew out Dallas 7-2 to take a 2-1 series lead. The winning team decided in the second period, in which they broke the goalless situation with a flurry of goals and dominated it in the ratio of 5:1.
The Krakens, who are playing in the playoffs for the first time in the club’s history, were once again able to rely on a team performance and seven different scorers took care of all the hits. On the losing side, Radek Faksa was one of the four players who did not finish in negative numbers in the +/- statistics.
“We wanted to play at a high tempo from the beginning. That helped us. We felt like we were better after the first period, we felt fresh. It gave us a boost and we were thinking in the second period,” said Carson Soucy, the author of the goal on 3:0.
The first goal of the match was preceded by an unlucky moment. Tye Karty’s inaccurate shot hit Miro Heiskanen in the face, who went down to the ice, and Jordan Eberle delivered the free puck into the goal. The experienced Finnish defender did not intervene in the game.
Less than seven minutes separated Seattle’s first and fourth goals. “We probably deserved what we got. They were hungrier, they converted their chances,” acknowledged Dallas captain Jamie Benn.
2. kolo play off NHL:
Eastern Conference – 3rd Matches:
New Jersey – Carolina 8:4 (3:0, 2:2, 3:2)
Goals: 11. and 46. J. Hughes, 6. Meier, 13. McLeod, 21. Hischier (Palát), 26. Severson, 44. Wood (Vaněček), 51. Palat – 22. Aho, 33. Martinook from tr . shooting, 48. J. Staal, 49. Jarvis. Shots on goal: 34:30. Vítek Vaněček caught the entire match for New Jersey, conceding four goals from 30 shots and had a success rate of 86.7 percent. Spectators: 16,514. Stars of the game: 1. J. Hughes, 2. Hischier, 3. Meier (all New Jersey). Series status: 1:2.
Florida – Toronto 3:2 in overtime. (0:1, 2:1, 0:0 – 1:0)
Goals: 23. Duclair, 33. Verhaeghe (Gudas), 64. Reinhart – 3. Lafferty (Kämpf), 28. Gustafsson. Shots on goal: 29:24. Spectators: 19,911. Stars of the match: 1. Reinhart, 2. Duclair, 3. Bobrovsky (all Florida). Series status: 3-0.
Western Conference – Game 3:
Seattle – Dallas 7:2 (0:0, 5:1, 2:1)
Goals: 23. Eberle, 24. Wennberg, 27. Soucy, 29. Beniers, 40. Tolvanen, 42. Gourde, 58. Schultz – 33. Marchment, 47. Hakanpää. Shots on goal: 26:26. Spectators: 17,151. Stars of the match: 1. Beniers, 2. Grubauer, 3. Soucy (all Seattle). Series status: 2:1.
