The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 despite Draisaitl’s performance. The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils 5–1. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Sebastian Aho reached the power points.
shows on Sunday 7.5. two NHL playoffs. First, starting at 22:15, New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes, and right after, at 01:30, Toronto-Florida.
German star of Edmonton Leon Draisaitl had scored four goals as the Oilers fell to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-6 in their NHL second round playoff opener.
Draisaitl’s second hit in particular was a great show of skill. He picked up the puck from the point blank range by the Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit through the back to the goal.
Draisaitl now leads the NHL playoff scoring market with 11 hits. He is also number one in the points exchange with powers of 11+4=15.
Four goals in one playoff game is Edmonton’s most recent club record Jari Kurri in April 1987 against the Los Angeles Kings. They also belong to the four-goal club Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Glen Anderson.
Draisaitl gave Edmonton a commanding lead in the opening set. However, Vegas fought back and led the match 3–2 after the first period. After a scoreless second set, Draisaitl tied the match at 3–3. Ivan Barbashev put Vegas back in the lead with his second hit of the night and Chandler Stephenson increased the score to 5–3.
Draisaitl narrowed it down one more time, but in the end, Edmonton spoiled their chance to equalize. The team frantically searching for an equalizer had too many players on the ice and Darnell Nurse sat down for two minutes. Vegas Jack Eichel was able to make the final scores 6–4 to an empty net.
The character of the evening was not happy after the game.
– We were not good enough. This was nowhere near how we play, Draisaitl said (You are moving to another service).
Kotkaniemi hit, Carolina roared to victory
The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in their opening game of the second round of the NHL playoffs.
Brett Pesce and Seth Jarvis gave Carolina a 2–0 lead in the first period.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi hit the corner of the goal at the beginning of the second period. The goal was Kotkaniemi’s first in the playoffs.
The Devils narrowed to 1–3, but Carolina scored two goals in the final set. Sebastian Aho bait Brady Skjein shot 4–1 goal.
The Hurricanes kept the Devils out of scoring positions, especially at the beginning of the match. New Jersey had just one shot per shot in the opening set by Frederik Andersen guarding the Hurricanes goal.
According to Skjei, the beginning of the match largely determined the direction of the game.
– It was really important. They have an emotional Game 7 (against the Rangers) behind them. They didn’t get the start they wanted. We, on the other hand, got We played fast, physical and got a couple of pucks in the net, just like we wanted, Skjei said (you are switching to another service).
The Carolina guard who made five saves against the New York Islanders in the first round of the playoffs Antti Raanta did not play in the match. The head coach by Rod Brind’Amour according to the team has a good goalkeeper situation.
– Both play well. Freddie had a great game when we won the last series. Either one could have been on target. We decided to keep Freddie and see how he feels after the match. He didn’t have to stretch in the beginning, but made some big saves as the game progressed.
From the 2nd round of the playoffs, 1st matches (with four wins to continue):
Eastern Block:
Carolina-New Jersey 5-1 (2-0, 1-1, 2-0)
C: Jesperi Kotkaniemi 1+0, Sebastian Aho 0+1.
Carolina leads 1-0.
Western Block:
Las Vegas-Edmonton 6-4 (3-2, 0-0, 3-2)
Las Vegas leads 1-0.
shows on Sunday 7.5. two NHL playoffs. First, starting at 22:15, New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes, and right after, at 01:30, Toronto-Florida.