Seconds cherish the final – Kommersant

The first finalist of the current Stanley Cup was the club, which entered the playoffs with great difficulty, but changed in the cup stage. In the semi-final series, the Florida Panthers managed to beat a very powerful rival, the Carolina Hurricanes, dry in four matches. A home victory – 4:3 – in the fourth was brought to her by the goal of the leader Matthew Tkachak five seconds before the siren about the end of the third period.

This series will definitely enter the list of the most paradoxical in the history of the Stanley Cup. And not because it has a team that did not shine in the regular season and with difficulty, on the flag, penetrated the playoffs, knocked out a team that distinguished itself throughout the season with incredible stability and power. The level of competition in the NHL is so high that the division into outsiders and favorites in it is rather arbitrary. In the end, in the opening round of the playoffs, Florida dealt with an even more stable and powerful regular season than the Carolinas, the Boston Bruins. The point is different.

The score in the series 4:0 is always tempting to talk about a convincing victory, about a rout. The fact that, as the unfortunate Carolina coach Rod Brindamore put it, someone in it was “carried out”. But in this case, it does not correspond to the essence of the confrontation at all, one might even say, it brazenly deceives.

Everything in it always hung by a thin thread. In the first match, Florida won at the end of the fourth overtime. The second also taxied to extra time, which, however, did not last long. In the third, Florida took the upper hand thanks to a single goal scored and with an abundance of surest chances from Carolina, killed by Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. And the fourth match did not fall out of the trend. On the contrary, from the point of view of the degree of drama, it can be considered the culmination of the series.

In it, for the first time, one of the opponents managed to lead with a difference of two goals. Florida received such a reserve thanks to a fabulously successful start of the match by the standards of this semi-final: Anthony Duclair’s goal was already in the first minute, in the middle of the starting period – another one from Matthew Tkachak in the majority, and in the interval between them – no less unpleasant for Carolina ” event. In her most reliable defender Jaccob Slavin, like an asphalt skating rink accelerating downhill, Florida forward Sam Bennett imprinted at the side. The power reception, from the point of view of the arbitrators, came out clean, and Slavin went to the locker room with an injury and did not return to the ice. And after a while, the damage put forward Stefan Nosen out of action. The composition of the Carolinas has undergone a decent reduction, and at the expense of players who spend a lot of time on the site.

But the most delicious in this match was still ahead. Shortly after Tkachak’s goal, Paul Stastny nevertheless shot through Sergei Bobrovsky. And in the second period, his achievement was repeated by Teuvo Teryavinen.

Florida took the lead again thanks to Ryan Lomberg. And Carolina did not give up again, finding themselves in a difficult situation, and three and a half minutes before the end of the final period, Jesper Fast restored the balance.

Another overtime seemed inevitable. And then, when there was less than a minute to wait for him, the Carolina forward Jordan Staal went to the penalty box.

Guests in the minority held firm, and the clock was ticking, and precious seconds for both teams melted away. “Carolina” needed to defend only five more, when on her patch, as if out of nowhere arose with Matthew Tkachak’s puck just darting away from them. With goaltender Frederik Andersen, the Florida leader, who gained the ability to turn on really well in decisive moments, figured it out extremely confidently, scoring his ninth goal in the playoffs, scoring 21 points (only Roope Hinz from Dallas had more) and provided his club for the second time in its history reaching the Stanley Cup final. The previous one happened a long time ago, before the birth of 25-year-old Tkachak, in 1996. Then Florida lost to the Colorado Avalanche.

Her opponent in the final series could have been decided as early as Thursday night Moscow time, after the fourth match in the series between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars. In it, Vegas led 3-0.

Alexey Dospekhov