Slovak hockey player Juraj Slafkovský scored two goals on Sunday night in the overseas NHL and thus contributed to the victory of the Montreal Canadiens, who triumphed on the ice of Ottawa 6:5 after overtime.
Apart from him, Martin Fehérváry was also in action, his Washington was not enough for Florida 2:5.
Slafkovský gave his team the lead in the 4th minute during a power play when he beat goalkeeper Leevi Meriläinen with a shot into the top right corner.
VIDEO: Juraj Slafkovský’s first goal
It was the 60th goal and 150th point in the overseas professional league for the 21-year-old Slovak player. Another accurate shot came in the 56th minute at 3:5, when he deflected Lane Hutson’s shot in front of the goal.
Slafkovský spent exactly 20 minutes on the ice and ended the duel with a minus. Fehérváry was in the first defensive pair with John Carlson, his ice time was 18:46 and he ended the duel with a minus point.
In a wild Canadian derby, Montreal led 2-0, but then lost 3-5 after Jake Sanderson’s goal in the 48th minute. Slafkovski’s 19th goal of the season gave the Canadiens wings, and Alexandre Carrier equalized 65 seconds later.
VIDEO: Juraj Slafkovský’s second goal
In the 33rd second of overtime, Cole Caufield completed the turnover and after breaking away from Nick Suzuki, he decided Montreal’s victory with a tap shot.
“I don’t know if I would do it again, but I’m glad it worked out and luckily the puck went in,” Caufield, who had three points on two goals and an assist, told nhl.com.
Hutson collected three assists and has 50 points (8+42) after 49 games. In the history of the Canadiens, only Larry Robinson was able to do this among defensemen before him (42 games in the 1985/86 season and 44 games in the 1976/77 season).
Slafkovský broke the record
The Senators were disappointed that they did not bring the well-started duel to a successful end. “It’s frustrating. We played a great 56 minutes, but it takes 60 minutes to win. Especially when you’re playing against a team that has such offensive talent and ability to turn games around,” Sanderson said.
One of the best moments of the match was Ottawa forward Tim Stützle’s goal to make it 2-2, when he moved the puck between his legs and beat Sam Montembeault with an exhibition shot.
Slafkovský has already scored 61 goals and in the statistics of players under the age of 22, he reached the third place in the history of the Canadiens, when he surpassed Mario Tremblay’s record. Only Stephane Richer (91) and Henri Richard (62) are ahead of him.
Fehérváry had the most blocked shots
Fehérváry was in the first defensive pair with John Carlson, his ice time was 18:46 and he ended the duel with a minus point.
The Slovak defenseman blocked four shots, which was the most of any player on the ice. Sam Bennett made the most significant contribution to the Panthers’ victory, scoring a goal and adding two assists. Florida made up for Friday’s 1-9 loss against Carolina.
“Obviously we were unhappy with what happened on Friday. I’m glad we showed character and responded in the best possible way,” Bennett said. Both Washington goals were scored by defender Jakob Chychrun.
Šimon Nemec, whose New Jersey lost 1:4 to Carolina, was out of the lineup again. Russian forward Andrej Svečnikov scored his fourth career hat-trick in this match.
Another Slovakian, Martin Pospíšil, was missing from the Calgary lineup, while on Saturday night he was in action after an injury for the first time since October, namely in the Calgary Wranglers farm team.
NHL – results (January 18)
Anaheim Ducks – Los Angeles Kings 2:1 pp (1:0, 0:1, 0:0 – 1:0)
Goals: 7. McTavish (Zellweger, R. Strome), 65. Granlund (Sennecke) – 26. Kempe (Fiala, Kuzmenko)
Goalkeepers: Husso – Forsberg, shots on goal: 33:18
Vancouver Canucks – Edmonton Oilers 0:6 (0:0, 0:6, 0:0)
Goals: 24. Roslovic (Lazar, Walman), 27. Hyman (Bouchard, McDavid), 32. K. Kapanen (Nugent-Hopkins, Emberson), 35. Roslovic (Howard, Savoie), 36. K. Kapanen (Nugent-Hopkins), 37. Podkolzin
Goalkeepers: Tolopilo – Jarry, shots on goal: 31:35
Vegas Golden Knights – Nashville Predators 7:2 (0:1, 2:0, 5:1)
Goals: 38. Holtz (Theodore, Reinhardt), 39. Theodore (Lauzon, Kolesar), 46. Dorofeev (Marner), 49. Stone (Eichel, Whitecloud), 53. Reinhardt (Holtz, Laczynski), 54. Marner (R. Smith, Schmid), 56. Kolesar (Hertl, Bowman) – 15. Evangelista (Josi), 60. F. Forsberg (O’Reilly, Josi)
Goalkeepers: Schmid – Annunen, shots on goal: 36:28
Calgary Flames – New York Islanders 4:2 (1:0, 3:1, 0:1)
Goals: 12. Šarangović (Andersson, Bahl), 24. Klapka (Bahl, Frost), 30. Kirkland (Lomberg, Klapka), 32. Kuzněcov (Kadri, Zary) – 33. Pageau (M. Schaefer, Holmström), 58. Anders Lee (Ritchie, M. Schaefer)
Goalkeepers: Wolf – Rittich, shots on goal: 19:30
Utah Mammoth – Seattle Kraken 6:3 (1:1, 2:2, 3:0)
Goals: 3. Stenlund (Crouse, Cole), 21. Schmidt (McBain, Guenther), 25. Schmaltz (Crouse, Schmidt), 55. Schmidt (Keller), 56. Crouse (Keller, Schmidt), 60. Hayton (Marino, Vejmelka) – 2. Eberle (Kakko, Beniers), 36. Beniers (Dunn, Catton), 38. Stephenson (Gaudreau, Tolvanen)
Goalkeepers: Grubauer – Vejmelka, shots on goal: 30:21
New Jersey Devils – Carolina Hurricanes 1:4 (0:0, 0:2, 1:2)
Goals: 45. Meier (Glass, Hamilton) – 34. Svečnikov (Sebastian Aho), 35. Svečnikov (Sebastian Aho, S. Walker), 49. Blake (Ehlers, K. Miller), 56. Svečnikov (Sebastian Aho, Jarvis)
Goalkeepers: Markström – Andersen, shots on goal: 29:34
Ottawa Senators – Montreal Canadiens 5:6 pp (0:2, 4:1, 1:2 – 0:1)
Goals: 21. B. Tkachuk (Giroux, Sanderson), 24. Stützle (Cousins, Eller), 36. Cozens (Stützle, Sanderson), 39. Perron (Zub, Sanderson), 48. Sanderson (Greig) – 4. Slafkovský (Caufield, Suzuki), 18. Caufield (Suzuki), 25. Josh Anderson (Matheson, Dobson), 56. Slafkovský (L. Hutson, Danault), 57. A. Carrier (Děmidov, Josh Anderson), 61. Caufield (L. Hutson)
Goalkeepers: Meriläinen – Montembeault, shots on goal: 34:19
Pittsburgh Penguins – Columbus Blue Jackets 3:4 sn (2:1, 0:2, 1:0 – 0:0, 0:1)
Goals: 10. Clifton (Novak), 18. Rakell (Crosby), 59. Crosby (Letang, Malkin) – 3. Aston-Reese (Werenski, Gaunce), 28. Marchenko, 38. Heinen (Gudbranson, Zamula), decision. rent Coyle
Goalkeepers: Šilovs – Merzlikinš, shots on goal: 32:25
Washington Capitals – Florida Panthers 2:5 (0:1, 2:2, 0:2)
Goals: 23. Chychrun (Protas, Carlson), 31. Chychrun (Carlson, Dowd) – 14. Greer (Bennett, Ekblad), 32. Bennett (Verhaeghe, Mikkola), 36. Balinskis (Lundell, Reinhart), 59. Lundell (Reinhart), 60. Verhaeghe (Bennett, Greer)
Goalkeepers: Thompson – Tarasov, shots on goal: 24:31
Winnipeg Jets – Toronto Maple Leafs 3:4 pp (0:0, 2:1, 1:2 – 0:1)
Goals: 23. Iafallo (Stanley, Namestnikov), 29. Connor (Vilardi), 43. Niederreiter (Namestnikov, L. Schenn) – 30. Matthews (Domi, Rielly), 46. Ekman-Larsson (N. Robertson, Cowan), 56. McMann (Ekman-Larsson, Rielly), 64. Domi (Matthews, Ekman-Larsson)
Goalkeepers: Hellebuyck – Hildeby, shots on goal: 30:37
Chicago Blackhawks – Boston Bruins 2:5 (2:0, 0:3, 0:2)
Goals: 17. Greene (Burakovsky, Bedard), 19. Kaiser (N. Foligno) – 22. McAvoy (E. Lindholm, Pastrňák), 35. Lohrei (Zacha, E. Lindholm), 40. Arvidsson (Zacha, Mittelstadt), 49. Lohrei (Mittelstadt, Minten), 51. Chusnutdinov (Pastrňák, E. Lindholm)
Goalkeepers: Söderblom – Korpisalo, shots on goal: 24:23
NHL tables
Western Conference:
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