Sergei Bobrovsky scored a full trap – Kommersant
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The Stanley Cup Semi-Finals kicked off with an amazing match-up that saw the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers pitted each other for almost two and a half hours of pure playing time, or seven full periods. A 3-2 away victory for Florida was brought by a goal with 13 seconds left in the fourth overtime by Matthew Tkachak. He became the protagonist of the meeting, along with the Russian goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky, who saved more than six dozen shots.
The most curious admission after this match was made by Florida forward Ryan Lomberg, who honestly said that during extra time he lost count of overtime: the marathon lasting 140 minutes of pure playing time and almost six hours of “dirty” time, if you count pauses, was so exhausting and breaks between periods. In NHL playoff history, there have actually been only five games longer than the one that opened the current Eastern Conference finals series. Well, in terms of drama, she, perhaps, surpassed some of the top five.
Drama was full and full and in regular time. For example, about the plot of the match, you need to know that it had enough twists and turns. Carolina took the lead at the end of the first period, and one might have thought that the initiative was already in their hands, that the guests, who were leaving out of the blue, had burned out and were unlikely to come up. But in the next twenty minutes, the calmed down “Florida” dealt a powerful blow, scoring two goals in a row. So, Carolina had to get out of the most difficult situation. She got out when she converted the majority again in the final period. Well, then it was the turn of this endless extra time until the first puck, which in itself, apart from all previous events, was drawn to a thriller.
Actually, “Florida” sent this necessary puck to the gates of “Carolina” right away – just Lomberg scored. Her hockey players, it seems, did not doubt at all that the match had just taxied to a happy outcome for them. But the judges began to watch the video replay and, after much deliberation, decided that Lomberg’s partner Colin White drove into the goalkeeper’s area not so much because Jack Drury pushed him there, but on his own initiative, and prevented goalkeeper Frederik Andersen. The goal was canceled, and some of the fans who had already left the stadium happily hurried back to the stands.
And the match went on and on. And in general it seemed that he would not be limited to seven periods. About the state of the teams in the fourth overtime, the episode with the removal of Florida hockey player Carter Verhegy perfectly tells. For two minutes of the majority, the Carolina hockey players did not manage to hit the target at least once, which was defended by the Russian Sergey Bobrovsky. However, their rivals were hardly less exhausted.
The emergency happened when 13 seconds remained before the siren for the next break. The puck was in the Carolina zone, and defender Brent Burns just had to carefully throw it away. Burns could not do this, and even on his wadded, refusing to move legs, he could not cover Florida leader Matthew Tkachak, who, after intercepting, threw exactly under the crossbar.
Tkachak, of course, was recognized as the first star of the match. But Sergey Bobrovsky equally claimed for such a title. The game added a not-so-small portion of honor and glory to the veteran, who is experiencing a career renaissance in the play-offs. He conceded two goals, but this is minuscule, taking into account both the duration of the meeting and the load that fell on the goalkeeper. And she was huge. Bobrovsky coped with 63 shots that hit the Florida goal. And this is not only his personal record, but also the record of the club. Until now, it was owned by John Vanbiesbroek and was installed as early as 1996. Then, in the match with the Colorado Avalanche, Vanbiesbroek saved eight shots less than Bobrovsky now, for whom the main task after the meeting with the Carolinas was, of course, to find some way to recover before Saturday, when the second game of the series took place.
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