After losing to the Rangers, Tampa lost its leading defenseman Sergachev

The match between two NHL giants, in which the New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning at home – 3:1, was remembered primarily for a terrible episode from the second period. An unfortunate collision seems to have resulted in a very serious leg injury for Tampa’s Russian defender Mikhail Sergachev, who had just returned to the ice after a long break. He was carried away from the site on a stretcher.

This match between two clubs, each of which looks capable of achieving great things this season, provided several interesting topics for discussion. For example, a topic related to goalkeepers.

In fact, this meeting, in theory, was supposed to turn, among other things, into a duel between two famous Russian goalkeepers, who would take the prize for the best goalkeeper in the league. But if Andrei Vasilevsky started for Tampa, Igor Shesterkin was not in it – Jonathan Quick played instead. In principle, there is nothing strange in the fact that the main goalie misses a match: in the NHL they are often given a rest to avoid being overworked. But this case was still quite special. Despite the fact that Shesterkin is absolutely healthy, Quick performed in the third match in a row. The first, with the Ottawa Senators, was before the break for the All-Star Weekend in Toronto, the other two, with the Colorado Avalanche and Rangers, after it, this week.

And this is already a long series for the second number, who, as it seemed, was signed in the summer of 2023 solely for insurance, to provide Shesterkin with a short respite from time to time.

In the end, Quick, although he has a bright background, is already 38 years old and last season, having transferred through the Columbus Blue Jackets from the Los Angeles Kings to the Vegas Golden Knights, he was all triumphant for the new playoff club was a spectator.

Meanwhile, the fact that Jonathan Quick is experiencing an unexpected career renaissance at the Rangers, which even threatens the strength of Igor Shesterkin’s position, was cautiously talked about even before the New Year. And recent events have added relevance to the thesis. In the Rangers’ last three games, Quick allowed just a goal and looked extremely reliable, although his reliability against Tampa was mixed with a healthy dose of luck in the form of shots on the post by Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman.

New York coach Peter Laviolette, of course, was asked after the match about Shesterkin’s fate. He limited himself to a non-clarifying answer about the fact that the club decided that he needed to work additionally with goalkeeper coach Benoit Allaire.

The second topic is precisely Kucherov. Now his duel with his compatriot, the leader of the Rangers attack Artemy Panarin, took place. And it ended with Kucherov’s victory. He was much more active and sharper than Panarin, scored a couple of breathtaking breakthroughs and took part in Tampa’s only effective combination, thanks to which in the final period, losing 0:2, they came close to the hosts, reviving the intrigue. They, however, still survived thanks to Quick and strengthened their position at the top of the Metropolitan Division, while Tampa (which is fourth in the Atlantic Division) apparently faces a difficult fight for the playoffs.

This assist was enough for Kucherov to once again single-handedly lead the regular season scoring race. With 86 points, he is one point ahead of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

But all these topics remained in the shadow of a terrible episode from the second period. The New York match saw the return to the ice of Mikhail Sergachev, an important defenseman for Tampa, who had been healing his December leg injury for a long time and had missed 17 meetings. But it ended badly for him.

In a completely ordinary, “working” situation, Sergachev rolled towards the boards towards Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere, who prepared to use force in response, the opponents collided and the Russian collapsed on the ice.

It became clear immediately that something terrible had happened. On the unnaturally twisted left leg of Mikhail Sergachev. By his face, distorted by pain. Judging by how quickly all the Tampa hockey players found themselves near him, pouring out of the bench.

Eventually a stretcher appeared on the ice. They drove Sergachev off the court, and Peter Laviolette had to fend off journalists who asked the coach about the player’s condition and the nature of his injury, knowing, of course, that in the NHL it is not customary to disclose such things, especially in hot pursuit. Laviolette did not break the rule and only said that he did not want to think about the worst-case scenario, in which Sergachev was out of action for the rest of the difficult season for Tampa.

Alexey Dospehov