Slovakian hockey forward Juraj Slafkovský assisted in Montreal’s 5-1 victory over Winnipeg in the NHL night game.
It was his 45th Canadian point of the season. It was the last match for both teams before the Olympic break.
Forwards Martin Pospíšil from Calgary and Dalibor Dvorský from St. Louis, but they did not register in the Canadian scoring.
In the 17th minute, Slafkovský was part of the Canadiens action in the offensive zone, which resulted in a shot by defender Noah Dobson and a stop by Oliver Kapanen.
It was the 24th assist of the season for the Slovak winger. After 57 games, he has 45 Canadian points (21+45).
VIDEO: Slafkovski’s assist on Kapanen’s goal
He started traditionally on the wing of the Canadiens’ second formation with center Oliver Kapanen and winger Ivan Demidov.
He spent a total of 17:21 minutes on the ice, during which a plus point was added to his statistics. He shot at the goal once, had two blocked shots and also got to throw-ins, on which he had a 50 percent success rate.
It was the last match for both teams before the Olympic break. The Canadiens have scored in each of the previous four duels, winning four of them. They will play the next duel on February 27 at home against the NY Islanders.
Forwards Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson played a significant role in the victory over Winnipeg, who collected three Canadian points each, both had the same goal and two assists.
“I think we’ve been playing pretty good hockey recently as a formation and with Phillip (Danault). Our goal was to create energy for our team. We contributed goals and points today. That’s always nice,” Anderson told nhl.com.
Montreal goalkeeper Sam Montembeault was a big obstacle for the hosts, who conceded only one goal from 37 shots and achieved a 97.3 percent save success rate.
“Montembeault made some great saves, he made great catches. We had great chances at 5-on-5 where we could and should have scored. We had enough offense to win. Our two mistakes took us in the opposite direction and the visitors took advantage of their chances,” said Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel.
Regenda was not given space
Slovak forward Pavol Regenda did not appear in the San Jose lineup in the match on the ice of Colorado and was in the position of a healthy substitute. The best team of the competition so far defeated the “sharks” 4:2 on home ice.
Colorado’s most productive player, forward Nathan MacKinnon, participated in the victory with two assists, the first of which was his jubilee 700th in the NHL regular season.
The Sharks had lost four straight before the Olympic break. Striker Kiefer Sherwood, whom the club acquired in exchange from Vancouver, played his first game in the San Jose jersey.
The Columbus players presented themselves in excellent form before the Olympic break. They beat Chicago 4-0 on Thursday night for their seventh straight victory, all in regulation time.
Since the coaching change in January, when Dean Evason was replaced by Rick Bowness, they have lost only one game out of eleven (11-1-0). The Blue Jackets’ goalkeeper picked up his second clean sheet of the season and fourth of his career.
The Blue Jackets are four points behind Boston, which is in the second wild card for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. The Blackhawks lost the sixth game out of the previous seven in the Western Conference, they have a significant distance to the rungs guaranteeing the playoffs.
Calgary and Popíšil won the battle for Alberta
Forward Martin Pospíšil from Calgary was also happy with his team’s victory. The Flames beat Edmonton 4-3 for their second win in the past three games. Striker Ryan Lomberg decided the Flames’ triumph with a goal in the 47th minute.
For Pospíšil, it was the seventh match of the season, after which he is still waiting for the first Canadian point. He played 6:45 minutes in the match, during which he shot at the goal three times. In the 32nd minute, after the Flames’ third goal (3:1), he received a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Oilers lost their final three games before the February break. On the Calgary ice, they came out empty-handed despite outshooting the opponent 39:25. “Oilers” captain Connor McDavid sent eight shots at the home goal.
Not even striker Dalibor Dvorský from St. Louis. His team led 1:0, 2:1 on the ice of Dallas and later equalized at 4:4, but finally left without a point gain.
The favored Stars triumphed 5:4 when forward Jamie Benn scored the winning goal at 59:37. Dallas won its sixth game in a row. The Blues did not score in the third meeting in a row and lost eight of the past nine games.
For both teams, it was the last duel before the Olympic break. Dvorský played almost 14 minutes in it, during which he added a minus point, a shot and one blocked shot to his statistics. He had a 56 percent success rate on faceoffs, winning 9 of 16.
After 47 matches of the current season, he has a record of 9+6. The match did not go too well for both goalkeepers. Local Jake Oettinger conceded four goals from 18 shots, Jordan Binnington allowed five of Dallas’ 28 shots.
Marchand’s winning bluff
Florida forward Brad Marchand, who returned to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury, helped his team snap a four-game losing streak with the game-winning goal on separate runs.
He had three minus points against his former teammates, but in the fourth series of raids he overcame future Olympians Joonas Korpisal and Casey Mittelstadt did not score.
Florida still has a duel against Tampa Bay before the Olympic break, Boston will not play against Columbus until February 27.
With the victory, the Panthers improved their position in the Eastern Conference, but they still lose eight points to Boston, which is on the second wild card.
Vejmelek was picked up by Detroit
Czech goalkeeper Karel Vejmelka got in the perfect mood for the upcoming Olympic Games when he helped Utah to a 4:1 triumph over Detroit in the last game before the break.
The Red Wings sent 30 shots at Vejmelka, but captain Dylan Larkin beat him in the 56th minute, reducing the score to 1:3.
Both teams will play another duel only after the break, which they will spend in positions guaranteeing participation in the playoffs.
In the offensive-minded match between Nashville and Minnesota, the audience saw as many as 11 goals and 79 shots on goal (35:44).
The guests finally enjoyed a 6:5 triumph after extra time after captain Jared Spurgeon scored a goal in the 65th minute.
His teammate Matt Boldy scored the guests’ first three goals and completed the fourth hat trick in his career in the 13th minute. It was the fastest hat trick in Minnesota Wild history. The previous record was held by Zach Parise (17 minutes).
Minnesota ended the pre-Olympic break with five straight wins and solidified its position as the second-best team in the Western Conference.
“It’s going great. We’re stringing together wins and finding different ways to win. A lot of players are contributing and that’s very positive,” noted Boldy. Nashville will play a duel on the ice of Washington on Friday night.
NHL – results (February 5):
Columbus Blue Jackets – Chicago Blackhawks 4:0 (2:0, 1:0, 1:0)
Goals: 5. Werenski (C. Sillinger, Coyle), 13. Provodov (Fantilli, Marchment), 26. Heinen (Coyle), 56. Monahan
Goalkeepers: Greaves – Knight, shots on goal: 20:21
Florida Panthers – Boston Bruins 5:4 pp a sn (1:2, 3:0, 0:2 – 0:0, 1:0)
Goals: 5. Luostarinen, 21. Balinskis (Tkachuk, Lundell), 23. Tkachuk (Lundell, Balinskis), 39. Lundell (Reinhart), deci. sn Marchand – 8. Eyssimont (Steeves, H. Lindholm), 13. Eyssimont (Chusnutdinov, Peeke), 48. Kastelic (McAvoy, H. Lindholm), 51. Mittelstadt (Pastrňák, Geekie)
Goalkeepers: Bobrovskij – Korpisalo, shots on goal: 26:29.
Winnipeg Jets – Montreal Canadiens 1:5 (1:1, 0:2, 0:2)
Goals: 7. Connor (Vilardi, Scheifele) – 17. Kapanen (Dobson, SLAFKOVSKÝ), 26. Anderson (Struble, Gallagher), 27. Hutson (Anderson, Gallagher), 51. Gallagher (Dach, Bolduc), 60. Danault (Anderson, Dobson).
Goalkeepers: Hellebuyck – Montembeault, shots on goal: 37:27.
Nashville Predators – Minnesota Wild 5:6 (3:3, 1:1, 1:1 – 0:1)
Goals: 10. Forsberg (Josi, Marchessault), 17. Stamkos (Forsberg, O’Reilly), 19. Haula (Marchessault, Perbix), 21. Evangelista (Stamkos, O’Reilly), 56. Josi (O’Reilly, Stamkos) – 2. Boldy (Bogosian, Eriksson Ek), 24. Boldy (Hughes, Zuccarello), 13. Boldy (Hughes, Faber), 37. Trenin, 56. Tarasenko (Middleton, Jurov), 65. Spurgeon (Boldy, Kaprizov)
Goalkeepers: Saros – Gustavsson, shots on goal: 35:44
Colorado Avalanche – San Jose Sharks 4:2 (0:0, 2:0, 2:2)
Goals: 22. Lehkonen (Ničuškin, Makar), 36. Lehtonen (MacKinnon, Ničuškin), 53. Manson (Ničuškin, MacKinnon), 59. Nelson – 41. Liljegren (Wennberg, Klingberg), 44. Kurashev.
Goalkeepers: Blackwood – Askarov, shots on goal: 42:25.
Utah Mammoth – Detroit Red Wings 4:1 (2:0, 0:0, 2:1)
Goals: 1. Durzi, 9. Schmaltz (Hayton, Keller), 45. Guenther, 58. Keller (Schmaltz, Crouse) – 56. Larkin (Seider, Kane)
Goalkeepers: Vejmelka – Gibson, shots on goal: 25:30
Dallas Stars – St. Louis Blues 5:4 (1:2, 3:0, 1:2)
Goals: 12. Robertson (Rantanen, Heiskanen), 22. Duchess (Harley, Benn), 24. Bourque (Robertson, Hintz), 32. Bourk (Duchene, Lindell), 52. Snuggerud, 56. Toropčenko.
Goalkeepers: Oettinger – Binnington, shots on goal: 28:18
Calgary Flames – Edmonton Oilers 4:3 (2:1, 1:1, 1:1)
Goals: 4. Huberdeau (Weegar, Gridin), 15. Gridin (Weegar, Cooley), 32. Zary (Whitecloud, Kadri), 47. Lomberg (Kadri, Whitecloud) – 6. Draisaitl (Nugent-Hopkins, Bouchard), 39. Draisaitl (Bouchard, McDavid), 45. Kapanen (Podkolzin, Bouchard)
Goalkeepers: Cooley – Jarry, shots on goal: 25:39
Los Angeles Kings – Seattle Kraken 2:4 (1:3, 1:0, 0:1)
Goals: 8. Kuzmenko (Clarke, Fiala), 31. Kuzmenko (Kempe, Fiala) – 10. Wright (Winterton), 11. Larsson (Stephenson, F. Gaudreau), 16. Dunn (McCann, Stephenson), 46. Wright (F. Gaudreau, Kakko)
Goalkeepers: Kuemper – Daccord, shots on goal: 27:23
Vegas Golden Knights – Vancouver Canucks 5:2 (0:0, 3:2, 2:0)
Goals: 26. Eichel (Andersson, Stone), 27. Reinhardt (Bowman, Theodore), 28. Barbashov (Stone, Eichel), 43. Dorofejev (Marner), 44. Holtz (Kolesar, Lauzon) – 28. E. Pettersson II. (Öhgren, Blueger) 40. Joseph (Garland, Blueger)
Goalkeepers: Schmid – Lankinen, shots on goal: 31:23.
NHL tables
Western Conference:
