The hockey players of New Jersey entered the series of the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs with a 1:5 loss on the ice of Carolina. She coped with the goalkeeping star of the “Devils” Akira Schmid, who was replaced in the 22nd minute by the Czech goalkeeper Vítek Vaněček. However, it did not lead to a turnaround. Leon Draisaitl put up four goals at the beginning of another series of elimination battles, but he did not prevent the Edmonton hockey players from losing 4:6 in Vegas.
Schmid replaced Vaněček after the first two games of the previous round with the New York Rangers, which New Jersey lost. The Swiss goalkeeper then dazzled: in the five following duels, he conceded only seven goals, kept two clean sheets and led the team to promotion.
But even he was not enough against Carolina. The home team laid the foundation for success in the opening period, in which they outshot their opponents 10:1 and scored two goals.
Brett Pesce opened the scoring after winning a throw-in with a swing from behind the left circle through a crowd of players. Seth Jarvis increased from overcounting and at the beginning of the second half Jesperi Kotkaniemi forced Schmid to the substitute.
New Jersey immediately reduced with Vaněček in the cage. Nathan Bastian got behind the home defense and outwitted Frederik Andersen with a shot over the crossbar.
The Czech goalkeeper conceded in the 51st minute when Brady Skjei beat him from the left circle. Carolina’s win was sealed by Jesper Fast when the guests were at risk without a goalkeeper.
Vaněček conceded one goal from 11 shots, Devils forward Ondřej Palát registered three negative points. On the other side, Hurricanes forward Martin Nečas came out empty-handed.
But New Jersey needn’t be sad. Even in the opening round, they lost the first two matches against the Rangers by the same score of 1:5, but then turned the series around.
Draisaitl is the leading scorer in the playoffs after four games against Vegas with 11 hits. The Edmonton star scored the first goal of the match in a power play, at the end of the first period he made it 2:3 from a low-key action. The leader of the productivity of the NHL playoffs (11+4) threw the puck from a zero angle on the goal and it bounced off the back of Laurent Brossoit into the net.
The German striker completed his hat trick in the 42nd minute when he equalized with a shot into an open goal to make it 3:3 in another numerical advantage. He added the last goal from a quick counterattack and reduced the score to 4:5.
Vegas quickly responded to Draisaitl’s initial hit and turned it around to make it 3-1. Ivan Barbašev, Michael Amadio and Mark Stone were responsible for the turnaround.
Even after the goal at 3:3, the home team came up with a quick answer. In 111 seconds, they already led 5:3 after the goals of Barbashev, the first star of the match, and Chandler Stephenson.
Jack Eichel secured the win in the end. Joe Pavelski also scored four goals a day earlier, his extraordinary performance was also not enough for Dallas.
2. kolo play off NHL:
Eastern Conference – Game 1:
Carolina – New Jersey 5:1 (2:0, 1:1, 2:0)
Goals: 10. Pesce, 15. Jarvis, 22. Kotkaniemi, 51. Skjei, 57. Fast – 26. Bastian. Shots on goal: 23:18. Vaneček caught 37:01 minutes for New Jersey, conceded one goal from 11 shots and had a 90.9 percent hit rate. Spectators: 18,735. Stars of the game: 1. Pesce, 2. Martinook, 3. Andersen (all Carolina).
Western Conference – Game 1:
Vegas – Edmonton 6:4 (3:2, 0:0, 3:2)
Goals: 5th and 43rd Barbashev, 10th Amadio, 19th Mark Stone, 44th Stephenson, 60th Eichel – 4th, 20th, 42nd and 49th Draisaitl. Shots on goal: 34:27. Spectators: 18,243. Stars of the match: 1. Barbashev, 2. Stephenson, 3. Mark Stone (all Vegas).
