NHL: Tampa Bay got off to a masterful start to the final series

The Russian Nikita Kutscherow was with two goals and an assist man of the game from the point of view of Lightning, who made it 1-0 in the “Best of seven” series. The 28-year-old has already scored 64 points in the play-off over the past two seasons, making him the third most successful player in NHL history in this calculation period. Only Wayne Gretzky, who holds the record with 82 points and scored a total of five times more points than Kutscherow in two play-off years, and Mario Lemieux (78) scored more points than the Russian. Mario Lemieux (78) also scored more points than the Russian in two seasons. Brayden Point also collected three scorer points with three assists at the start.

Eric Cernak gave the hosts the lead in the first third (7th). Yanni Gourde (26th) extended the lead before Montreal was able to shorten it with Ben Chiarot (38th). The final section, however, belonged to Tampa Bay: Kutscherow (43rd, 52nd) made things clear, and captain Steven Stamkos set the final point (59th) in the power play with his 30th point in the current play-off.

Despite the clear home win, the defending champions tried to keep the euphoria down. “They won’t go away, it’s a good team and rightly here. We have to be happy about the result and how we played, ”said Blake Coleman about the Canadiens, who are in the final for the first time since 1993. In the first game, however, the NHL record winner was under control, said Captain Stamkos: “We did a good job of controlling the puck for probably 50 or 55 minutes of this game.”

Bet among heads of government

Game two of the “Best of seven” series on Thursday night (local time) is again in Tampa before the two teams travel to Canada to win the 24-time Stanley Cup (23 titles of which as NHL members). Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme will also be able to personally look after the team there. He missed the start and the semi-final series against the Vegas Golden Knights because of a positive coronavirus test.

The final was also the occasion for a bet between the heads of government of the two countries in the final: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau challenged US President Joe Biden on the short message service Twitter: “Two of the best teams in the NHL are now playing against each other. How about a friendly bet, @POTUS? ”Trudeau wrote using the Twitter name of the US President (Abbreviation for President of the United States, note). “Say, buddy, #GoBolts,” Biden responded with the cheer for Tampa. Nothing was known about the amount of the stake.

National Hockey League

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