This year the clubs of the National Hockey League were so addicted to coaching retirements, and specialists who were left without work were so in demand on the market that at some point it began to resemble some kind of endless carousel. And therefore, the message about the appointment in New Jersey of the ex-Vegas coach Gerard Gallan, which came a few hours before the Devils match against Nashville, was taken by many for granted. Russian fans began to wonder at the complexity of hockey scenarios (Gallan could not work with Nikita Gusev at Golden Knights, but now got such an opportunity in a new team), but in the meantime it turned out that the news about the permutations in the Devils coaching staff is fake. The club’s official twitter hasn’t reported anything like this.
But for Gusev and his team, meeting with Nashville was still special. The Predators are coached by John Hines, who was fired from New Jersey this season. The Russian striker did not work at all with the American specialist – their relationship was often called conflict – and therefore on the night of Thursday to Friday, Moscow time, he wanted to prove that the coach completely in vain cut his playing time and sent him from the ice to the podium.
At first, it was not very proving – in the first period the Devils missed twice, Nikita earned a minus to the reliability coefficient, and if it were not for the goal in the minority from Pavel Zakha, these 20 minutes in the performance of the hosts could be called absolutely failed.
But in the middle of the second game segment, Gusev conveyed fiery greetings to Hines, only 2 minutes were enough. At first, the Russian assisted with a productive assist to make Zahe double – the Czech shot was very weak, but Pekka Rinne, who was closed by a crowd of his own and foreign players, was unable to stop the puck.
Soon Gusev scored himself. Nikita made a steep transverse translation all on the same Zahu, he grumbled past the gate, but the puck ricocheted from the front side to the Russian striker. His finishing from an almost zero angle looked very powerful.
Haines after the goal of Gusev, fans of the “New Jersey” were in full swing.
If the Olympic champion from Russia was doing well in performance, then with utility – not at all. Over the next 10 minutes, he earned another 2 minuses. True, in both cases, Nikita has no fault in the goals conceded by New Jersey. At first, he just didn’t find himself on the ice at the right time – he changed his partner at a time when he had no time to help his defenders. And in the situation with the goal of Matt Duchenne, the whole hat should be addressed to the defender of the “Devils” Pi Kay Subban, roughly cut off on someone else’s blue.
As a result, the skirmish on the ice of the Prudential Center ended with a score of 5: 5, there was no scoring firework on overtime and the opponents had to shoot bullets. There Gusev as confidently as possible realized his attempt, falling between Rinne’s guards, but did not wait for support from partners. “New Jersey” lost to the new team of their former head coach, but Gusev’s revenge to Hines still failed. The American had to make sure that in vain sheathed the Russian striker. As part of the Devils, he is one of the best.
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