Russian forwards got points – Newspaper Kommersant No. 39 (7484) of 03/09/2023

The list of heroes of the next day of the NHL regular season included two Russian forwards from the clubs that played in the finals of the previous Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche, Nikita Kucherov and Valery Nichushkin. Kucherov’s brace helped Tampa end their losing streak by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2, while Nichushkin scored four points in a game in which Colorado destroyed the San Jose Sharks 6-0.

To someone not deeply immersed in the nuances of what is happening in the NHL, these home successes of last season’s strongest teams – Colorado and Tampa, who lost to them in the Stanley Cup final – might seem like events quite ordinary. Clubs that are in an outsider niche have been beaten, and the importance of the points obtained is very conditional. After all, both Tampa and Colorado’s position in the playoff berth looks like armor. For example, resource FiveThirtyEight, who specializes in the analysis of sports hands, estimates their chances of reaching the playoffs at 99%. That is, no intrigue is expected in the final quarter of the regular season in connection with them.

But not everything is so simple. Take, for example, the case of Tampa.

The enormous value of her win against Philadelphia comes from a curious background. The background is the just experienced amazing, given the power and stability of the club, a series of five defeats in a row: twice – to the Pittsburgh Penguins, once – to the Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Moreover, the series was similar to the full-fledged and deep crisis that struck Tampa at the junction of winter and spring in a strange way. It would be nice if she was inferior to all opponents in a fight. But the total score of these five matches is 11:27. “Carolina” before the meeting with “Philadelphia” defeated “Tampa” – 6:0.

The club’s leading players were also in crisis, including Nikita Kucherov. Third behind the Edmonton Oilers pairing, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the league-leader scored just five points in those five games – terribly few by his standards. And in one of them – against the “Buffalo” – there was a rare state of emergency in the NHL. Seeing that nothing was going well with his leaders, Tampa’s coach John Cooper put them – Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Braden Point – on the bench for the entire final period.

Philadelphia’s game, in which Nikita Kucherov added an assist to the double, breaking the line of 90 points scored in the current regular season, may signal the end of the crisis and hint that Tampa is ready to improve their positions, which so far , strictly speaking, look so-so. She gets into the playoffs, but the “seeding” in it can easily get low, since she is only third in her Atlantic division.

With “Colorado” about the same story. He is also third in the division – Central (and even seventh in the Western Conference summary table), and it is also desirable for him to rise higher in the table so that in the playoffs he will not forever collide with opponents who have the advantage of their own court.

So for him, winning against San Jose is not so routine – any points matter.

Two Russians appeared in the shortlist of the heroes of this match. But goalkeeper Alexander Georgiev, although he did not miss a single goal, nevertheless became one thanks primarily to circumstances – the toothlessness of the Californian attack. 13 throws from the guests hit the target of his goal – a monstrous figure. Valery Nichushkin with a goal and three assists is a much more obvious hero.

Speaking of Nichushkin, you need to know that this season has brought him a lot of trouble. He is amazing, so that one would think that he would not yield to Kucherov in the scorer race, he started it, but then he missed the whole of November due to injury, after that he was out of action … But now, having improved his health, the forward looks gorgeous. The match with “San Jose” stretched his series of games with points scored to eight. And in total, he has 13 points in them.

Alexey Dospekhov