Cole Sillinger | Photo: Columbus Blue Jackets
Last night in the National Hockey League (NHL), the Columbus Blue Jackets lost to the Minnesota Wild 3:4 in overtime without Elvy Merzlikin.
Merzlikin missed the fourth game in a row. He was left out of the application for the third time in the last four matches, despite the fact that the Latvian was healthy for the last three games, becoming a so-called “healthy scratch”.
20-year-old Cole Sillinger had a great performance against the Wild, scoring his second career hat-trick, but Columbus let the lead slip three times and ultimately suffered a heartbreaking loss. Another young talent, Austrian Marco Rossi, who is playing his first full season, became the main character of “Wild” in extra time. Matthew Boldy scored two goals in regular time for Minnesota, and Marcus Johansson scored one accurate shot.
Columbus’ goal against the Wild was guarded by Daniil Tarasov, who saved 33 of 37 shots, while on the other end of the field, the legendary Marc-Andre Fleury won his 551st career victory, passing Martin Brodeur for second place on the all-time list of the greatest goalies.
In another game, the Florida “Panthers” set their season record, scoring eight goals and beating the Colorado “Avalanche” – 8:4. It was Florida’s seventh straight win at the same time. Sam Reinhart, the top scorer of the Panthers and the third best sniper in the NHL, continued to show a dominant performance, who got a hat-trick. Aleksander Barkov (0+4) and Matthew Tkaczak (1+3) each had four points, while Carter Verhaighee collected three points (2+1).
The Edmonton Oilers also won their seventh straight victory, defeating the Ottawa Senators 3-1. Zach Hyman scored all three goals for the Oilers, his third hat-trick of the season and fourth of his career. He was assisted by defender Evan Bouchard in all of his goals.
The Edmonton team, which was mentioned as one of the contenders for the title, but had a disastrous start to the season, has now improved its situation and has broken into the “play-off” zone for the first time – with 41 points accumulated in 36 games, the “Oilers” are in the “wild card” zone of the Western Conference second place. “Oilers” have already achieved their second long winning streak – at the end of November and the beginning of December, “Oilers” won eight in a row.
It has already been announced that last night’s success was won by Zemgus Girgensons and Teodors Blügers. Girgenson scored in the Buffalo Sabers’ 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, while Blüger had an assist in the Vancouver Canucks’ 6-4 win over the New Jersey Devils.
The “dry” streak is over – Girgensson scores the winning goal against the “Penguins”.
Defensive work pays off – Blüger earns another assist in Canucks win
NHL game results
Philadelphia Flyers – Calgary Flames 3:2
Colorado Avalanche – Florida Panthers 4:8
San Jose Sharks – Toronto Maple Leafs 1:4
Pittsburgh Penguins – Buffalo Sabers 1:3
New Jersey Devils – Vancouver Canucks 4:6
Montreal Canadiens – New York Rangers 4:3 (SO)
Columbus Blue Jackets – Minnesota Wild 3:4 (OT)
Boston Bruins – Tampa Bay Lightning 7:3
Dallas Stars – Nashville Predators 3:4
Carolina Hurricanes – St. Louis Blues 1:2 (SO)
Vegas Golden Knights – New York Islanders 5:2
Edmonton Oilers – Ottawa Senators 3:1
