M. Fehérváry, J. Slafkovský (photo: X/Washington Capitals/ Instagram/Canadiens de Montreal)
After a modest New Year’s Monday, it was Tuesday’s turn, which brought up to 13 duels in the NHL.
Highlights of the night
- All Slovaks enjoyed the win, Fehérváry scored, Slafkovský assisted
- The Jets scored in their ninth straight game, the Avalanche in their sixth
- The Oilers won their sixth straight game, the Panthers their fifth
- Crosby surpassed Thornton in historical scoring
- McDavid scored five points and scored the 900th point in his career
- MacKinnon also hit his 20th home run of the season
- Kreider became the scoring king of Madison Square Garden
- Saros picked up a clean sheet
PIT – WSH 3:4
Fehérváry becomes second star, Capitals end losing streak Martin Fehérváry sandwiched himself between two legends to finish as second star of the game behind Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby when he returned from a one-game absence to score his second goal of the season to help Washington win 4 :3 over Pittsburgh. The Slovak defenseman played 22 and a half minutes as the team’s second busiest player and led the game with four blocks and six points. He also scored a shot and a minor holding penalty. Ovechkin decided to end the four-game losing streak with his 830th career goal, after which the Capitals were leading 4-0. Tom Wilson and Beck Malenstyn also built the lead, Rasmus Sandin assisted twice. Darcy Kuemper faced 35 shots, outpaced by Rickard Rakell, Crosby and Jake Guentzel. The last two named also added after the assist. Tristan Jarry collected three goals from seven shots, Alex Nedeljkovic one from 15. The Penguins lost a three-game winning streak and a six-game point streak (5-0-1). It was the 10th time and the first time since November 7, 2018 that Ovechkin and Crosby scored in the same game. With 1,540 points, Crosby surpassed Joe Thornton for 12th place in NHL history.
Fehérváry chased Jarry out of the gate:
Ovechkin’s goal no. 830 in the NHL:
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Stars of the duel: 1. A. Ovečkin (WSH), 2. M. Fehérváry (WSH), 3. S. Crosby (PIT)
DAL – MTL 3:4
Slafkovský helps win over Stars Juraj Slafkovský performed well after two less-than-stellar duels and his work led to three goals for Montreal, which won 4-3 at Dallas to end a three-game losing streak. The Košice native first passed on Nick Suzuki’s goal, then his work led to a Stars puck loss and a Jordan Harris goal, and finally kept the puck in the offensive zone for Cole Caufield to score the game-winning goal. Meanwhile, Kaiden Guhle also scored. Suzuki and Harris also added after the assist, Sam Montembeault blocked 30 shots. He was beaten by Jamie Benn, two points by Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson. Scott Wedgewood left the duel with 14 saves. Slafkovský threatened him once during 19 minutes and 14 seconds spent in action. The Slovak attacker also scored a plus point, one block and two points. On The Habitant, they described his performance as “monstrous” and pointed out that he was second best on the team in Gamescore behind Suzuki. According to the TSN commentator, he was excellent. Related:
Video: Slafkovský passed for a goal and had a hand in two more
Stars of the duel: 1. S. Montembeault (MTL), 2. N. Suzuki (MTL), 3. W. Johnston (DAL)
MIN – CGY 1:3
Markström, Huberdeau help Flames win over Wild The remaining two Slovaks in action enjoyed Calgary’s 3-1 win over Minnesota, helped by Jacob Markström’s 28 saves. The goal drought after 18 games was ended by Jonathan Huberdeau, who scored the winning goal. Andrew Mangiapane opened the scoring and Blake Coleman closed it with an empty net goal. MacKenzie Weegar had two assists. Pat Maroon scored the only goal for the Wild, who lost their third straight game. Marc-Andre Fleury surrendered twice from 32 shots. The Slovak attackers did not threaten him even once. Martin Pospíšil played nine minutes with three points, Adam Ružička eight and a quarter minutes with one faceoff. Pospíšil did not score in the fifth game in a row, Ružička in the second.
Huberdeau ended his long goal drought:
Stars of the duel: 1. J. Markström (CGY), 2. M. Fleury (MIN), 3. C. Tanev (CGY)
WPG – TBL 4:2
Jets score in ninth straight game, Tampa takes it Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves, Vladislav Namestnikov had three assists and Winnipeg beat Tampa Bay, without injured Erik Černák, 4-2 to win its third straight game and extend its scoring streak to nine meetings (7-0-2). The Jets were trailing 0-1, but then scored four goals in a row. Neal Pionk, Alex Iafallo, Nikolaj Ehlers and two-pointer Morgan Barron, who scored into an empty net, enjoyed them. Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kučerov’s two-pointer used Victor Hedman’s assists to score goals for the Lightning, who lost their third game in their last four. Andrej Vasilevsky left him with 24 saves. Winnipeg became the third team in the post-expansion era (since 1967-68) to allow three or fewer goals in 26 consecutive games. Wild (35 duels, 2014/15) and Blues (27 duels, 2011/12) were also able to do it. Hellebuyck scored in ten four straight (8-0-2), tying a club record.
Stars of the duel: 1. C. Hellebuyck (WPG), 2. N. Pionk (WPG), 3. N. Niedereiter (WPG)
CBJ – FOREST 1:4
Van Riemsdyk helps Bruins stretch to winning streak James van Riemsdyk had a goal and two assists to help Boston extend its winning streak to four games with a 4-1 win over Columbus. Kevin Shattenkirk, Danton Heinen and Trent Frederic also had goals, while Linus Ullmark blocked 25 shots. Kent Johnson was the only one who found the recipe for it. Spencer Martin made 23 saves and the Blue Jackets lost their fifth of six games. In the previous three, they scored at least every time (1-0-2).
Stars of the duel: 1. J. van Riemsdyk (BOS), 2. L. Ullmark (BOS), 3. K. Shattenkirk (BOS)
NYR – CAR 1:6
Svečnikov helps beat Rangers Andrej Svečnikov scored twice, Brady Skjei had three assists and Piotr Kočetkov stopped 28 shots as Carolina defeated the Rangers 6-1 for its fourth straight game. Jack Drury had a goal and an assist, while Jordan Martinook, Jalen Chatfield and Michael Bunting also added goals. They beat Igor Šestorkin from 27 shots. Chris Kreider scored the only goal for New York, which lost its second game in three. He reduced to 1:2. Svečnikov had multiple points in the fifth game in a row. He was able to do it last year as well. Only Kevin Dineen, Ron Francis and Mike Rogers have had two streaks at least this long in club history. Kreider scored his 166th goal in the iconic Madison Square Garden in the regular season and playoffs combined. He broke Rod Gilbert’s record.
Stars of the duel: 1. A. Svečnikov (CAR), 2. J. Drury (CAR), 3. P. Kočetkov (CAR)
NSH – CHI 3:0
Saros clean sheet for Blackhawks Juuse Saros stopped all 21 shots for his second shutout of the season and 22nd of his career to lead Nashville to a 3-0 win over Chicago, which lost its third straight game. His counterpart, Arvid Söderblom, faced 35 shots, outscored by two-pointers from Gustac Nyquist and Ryan O’Reilly. Both used power plays. Luke Evangelista added the safety to the empty net. Visiting Anthony Beauvillier did not finish the match due to injury.
Stars of the duel: 1. J. Saros (NSH), 2. R. O’Reilly (NSH), 3. G. Nyquist (NSH)
ARI – FLA 1:4
Panthers snap five-game hitting streak at Arizona Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots and four different players scored as Florida extended its hitting streak to five games with a 4-1 win at Arizona. Carter Verhaeghe scored a goal and added an assist, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Gustav Forsling also scored after the goal. Alex Kerfoot tied the game at 1-1 during the deficit, but the Coyotes fell short of their third straight win. Karel Vejmelka scored three goals from 37 shots. Florida and the Rangers are the only teams this season that have had more than one winning streak of at least five games. Aleksander Barkov set a new club record with 416 assists. The former shared with Huberdeau.
Stars of the duel: 1. C. Verhaeghe (FLA), 2. S. Bobrovskij (FLA), 3. A. Kerfoot (ARI)
COL – NYI 5:4 PP
MacKinnon wins over Islanders Nathan MacKinnon scored a power play goal 32 seconds into overtime to give Colorado a 5-4 win over the Islanders. He previously assisted twice. Valerj Ničuškin forced overtime with his second goal of the game, Jonathan Drouin had a goal and an assist, Devon Toews had a goal. The Avalanche won their third straight game and scored in the sixth (5-0-1) thanks to Cale Makar’s three assists, Mikko Rantanen’s two assists and Alexander Georgiev’s 18 saves. This was surpassed by Pierre Engvall, two-pointer Brock Nelson, Simon Holmstrom and Alexander Romanov. Semion Varlamov allowed one goal on 12 shots before suffering an unspecified injury. Iľja Sorokin subsequently made 23 saves. The New York team lost the third game of the last four. MacKinnon became the first player in 35 years to score in each of the first 20 home games of a season. The last time it was done was Wayne Gretzky, who set a record with 40 games in the 1988/89 season.
MacKinnon completed the turnover in overtime:
Stars of the duel: 1. N. MacKinnon (COL), 2. V. Ničushkin (COL), 3. C. Makar (COL)
EDM – PHI 5:2
McDavid shines to score milestone Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists to lead Edmonton to its sixth straight win. In a 5:2 win over Philadelphia, he also scored his 900th career point. He needed 602 games to do it – only four players in the history of the NHL did it faster. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and an assist, Zach Hyman a goal and two assists, Leon Draisaitl a goal and an assist. Stuart Skinner faced 37 shots from which he was humbled by Travis Konecny and Marc Staal. However, this was not enough to prevent the third loss in the series and the fifth of the last six duels. Carter Hart left the game with 31 saves. McDavid is on a six-game point streak.
McDavid’s 900th NHL point:
Stars of the duel: 1. C. McDavid (EDM), 2. R. Nugent-Hopkins (EDM), 3. Z. Hyman (EDM)
IS – THERE 6:3
The Canucks scored five goals in the first period to beat the Senators Pius Suter had two goals and an assist, Elias Pettersson had two goals and Vancouver delighted its fans with a 6-3 win over Ottawa. JT Miller had a goal and an assist, Ian Cole also scored and Thatcher Demek’s 35 saves led to the fourth win in the last six games. Only two players found the recipe for him – Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals, Claude Giroux scored one. From the second period, they reduced from 0:5 to 3:5. Anton Forsberg scored four goals from 13 shots and substituted in the 17th minute. Joonas Korpisalo subsequently blocked 11 shots. The Canucks scored five goals in the first period for the 12th time in club history.
Canucks stars score two goals in 24 seconds:
Stars of the duel: 1. E. Pettersson (VAN), 2. P. Suter (VAN), 3. T. Demko (VAN)
LAK – TOR 0:2 2T
LAK – TOR 0:2 after the 2nd period we will add…
Stars of the duel:
SJS – IT 2:2 2T
SJS – DET 2:2 after the 2nd period we will add…
Stars of the duel:
Slovaks in action
Player
Time
G
A
B
+/-
TM
S
Mrs
J. Slafkovský (MTL)
19:14
0
1
1
+1
0
1
2
M. Pospíšil (CGY)
08:59
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
A. Ružička (CGY)
08:12
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
M. Fehérváry (WSH)
22:35
1
0
1
0
2
1
6
2024-01-03 04:37:11
#Slovaks #won #Fehérvárys #stellar #return #Slafkovský #excellent
