Florida Panthers defeated the Washington Capitals in the ice hockey NHL. Florida, represented by three Finns, won 6-3 in the away game after tight stages. Anton Lundell mixed Sam Reinhart scored the team’s last two goals on empty nets.
Florida led the Eastern Conference’s tight fight for a playoff spot on two occasions with three goals. The home team took a lead at the end of the final set Yevgeny Kuznetsov With a 3-4 reduction. In addition to his goal, Lundell had two hits. Captain of the Panthers Alexander Barkov hit the fourth hit that was the winning goal and Eetu Luostarinen assisted the visitors’ opening goal.
– This was certainly the biggest match for us so far. We tried to rest the last couple of days and yesterday we had dinner with the team, Barkov said about the preparation for the match after the victory.
Florida suffered a disappointing loss for a playoff spot to St. Louis on Wednesday. Barkov was satisfied with how the team got back on its feet after the defeat.
– At this time of the year, you can be really disappointed and sad after losses. However, we got over it really well. Yesterday was a good day and today we managed to prepare well for the match, Barkov described after the victory.
Florida took six two-minute timeouts in the game, Washington only three. The home team recovered from two of Florida’s last cooldowns, which seemed to backfire on the underpowered team that had done a perfect job until then.
Panthers played selflessly for their victory, as the team blocked no less than 22 shots.
– Everyone performed strongly on their own plot. Our underpowered game was good. I am happy with all the players in our team, the captain expressed the mood after the comfortable victory.
Carolina joins the series in the top fight
The Carolina Hurricanes are in a wild mood. In the night round, the team defeated the visiting Montreal Canadiens with 6–2 goals. The Finns were strongly featured in the home win, when Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his team’s opening goal and Sebastian Aho hit the game-winning hit early in the third inning.
Aho also served a beautiful knuckleball by Seth Jarvis to a 2–1 goal. Jarvis was Carolina’s biggest star after completing the first hat trick of his career in the struggle, i.e. three goals in one match. The Hurricanes Teuvo Teräväinen missed power points in the match, which ended the attacker’s four-game point streak.
Antti Raanta saved Carolina 20 times with the goal and was selected as the star of the match together with Jarvis and Aho. Across from Montreal Jesse Ylönen and Joel Armia both got an assist.
The match was a one-sided performance from Carolina against Montreal, the tail end of the series, as the hosts shot at the goal almost twice as often as the visiting team. Carolina is aiming for the top of the Eastern Conference, Boston, and the entire regular season dominance of the NHL. The team is seven points behind Boston, who leads the NHL, in second place in the series.
Carolina has won nine of their last ten matches.
Laine and Haula in scoring
Finnish success was also seen when the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Winnipeg Jets at home. I scored in the 3-1 clash against Columbus Patrick Laine scored a 1–1 equalizer in the second period with a precise wrist shot. The goal was Laine’s third against his old club Winnipeg.
In addition, he served in the third period Boone Jenner’s the hit that was the last of the match. Columbus’s Finnish goalkeeper Joonas Korpisalo played a strong match and made a total of 37 saves.
of New Jersey Erik Haula had his fifth hit of the season in a 4–2 loss to St. Louis. Despite the loss, one of the surprise teams of the season continues in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Tonight’s NHL results:
Washington-Florida 3–6 (0–1, 1–3, 2–2)
F: Anton Lundell 1+2, Aleksander Barkov 1+0, Eetu Luostarinen 0+1
Carolina-Montreal 6–2 (2–1, 0–1, 4–0)
C: Sebastian Aho 1+1, Jesperi Kotkaniemi 1+0, Antti Raanta 20/22 saves
M: Joel Armia 0+1, Jesse Ylönen 0+1
Columbus-Winnipeg 3–1 (0–1, 1–0, 2–0)
C: Patrik Laine 1+1, Joonas Korpisalo 37/38 saves
Nashville-Boston 0–5 (0–1, 0–3, 0–1)
N: Juuse Saros 25/30 saves
Calgary-Detroit 2-5
St. Louis-New Jersey 4–2
N: Erik Haula 1+0
Seattle-Philadelphia 6–2
S: Eeli Tolvanen 0+1
Las Vegas-San Jose 2–1