Kaapo Kähkönen’s first game in goal for the New Jersey Devils, who transferred from the San Jose Sharks, ended in a loss.
The St. Louis Blues snapped their three-game losing streak in NHL hockey Kasperi Kapanen in the lead, when it beat Boston Bruins, one of the top teams in the series, 5–1.
The Finnish striker performed sharply in the Boston match and had the most effective points of the evening, 1+2.
Kapanen scored the opening goal of the match after ten minutes of play with a bit of luck, when the puck bounced from the corner a couple of meters away from the goal, from which Kapanen swept the game tool into the net.
The hit was Kapanen’s fifth of the season and it ended the Finn’s 20-match scoreless streak.
Robert Thomas took the visitors to a 2–0 lead with a dominant force at the end of the opening set.
In the second period, St. Louis started a counterattack after its own end, and Kapanen passed by Kevin Hayes to score. The Finn also got an assist By Brandon Saad 4–0 to the goal.
Czech star David Pastrnak tuned Boston’s tone at the beginning of the final set by narrowing it to 4–1, but the Eastern Conference’s second-ranked team couldn’t get any closer. Alexei Toropshenko beat Final readings into an empty target.
Successes
Kapainen’s season has been difficult so far. He has scored 5+14=19 points in 57 matches. In August 2023, Suomalaištaht was caught driving drunk and was fined more than 100,000 euros in February.
Now, Kapanen, who was chosen as the second star of the match, missed his record for points in the NHL by one game.
– Today it went in, it’s nice to see. I feel like lately the puck hasn’t been bouncing the way I want it to, so a match like this feels really good, Kapanen said.
The win was important for St. Louis, who is chasing a playoff spot, as it desperately needs points to make it to the spring games. The head coach by Drew Bannister the team took steps in the right direction in the Boston match.
– From the goalkeeper to the forwards, we didn’t have any free riders. Everyone played well today. Keeper Joel Hofer made important saves, our understrength was great and we managed to score with the upper hand. The boys succeeded in every aspect, Bannister said.
Boston is second in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the Florida Panthers.
Kähkönen made his debut with the Devils
Finnish striker traded from San Jose Sharks Kaapo Kähkönen played his first game in goal for the New Jersey Devils, when the Devils faced the New York Rangers, who are third in the Eastern Conference, in a local game on the Hudson River.
Rangers won the match 3–1 Mika Zibanejadin, by Erik Gustafsson and by Vincent Trocheck with goals. Devils only hit Simon Nemec. Kähkönen blocked 23 shots in the match.
The loss was the second in a row for the Devils. That’s 11th in the Eastern Conference.
In the other matches of the round, the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Washington Capitals 3–0 and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the New York Islanders by the same score.
NHL results and standings.