Toronto lost twice in the home game against the NY Islanders, but after a goal from William Nylander in the 34th minute, he got into the lead, which he did not let go. In the last minute, Kämpf secured the third Maple Leafs win in a row, which suppressed Nylander’s throw and cleared the puck into an empty goal. The Czech striker thus scored his tenth goal of the year and broke his six-match waiting for the point.
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Toronto, which lacked the Czech duo Petr Mrázek, Ondřej Kaše and the best NHL scorer Auston Matthews, won the fiftieth match of the year and set a new club record. “We worked a lot during the summer, so it’s nice to see the results. But the most important thing is yet to come, we must not be satisfied,” said Nylander.
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San Jose led 4: 3 after Hertl’s action from the beginning of the third period, but Minnesota sent the match into extra time, which was decided by Jared Spurgeon after a minute. Thanks to the win, the Wild hockey players secured a place in the playoffs. “Getting into the elimination fights is always nice. The NHL is the toughest league in the world, so I’m glad we made it to the playoffs for the third time in a row,” said Fiala, who scored a goal and added three assists.
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In the 42nd minute, Hertl led the puck into the attacking zone, found Nick Bonin, and he hit the left circle for a throw-in. Hertl has already scored 62 points in the season for 28 goals and 34 assists and is the second most productive Czech hockey player in the NHL.
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The third place among the Czech players is held by Voráček, who with his 50th assistance in the season prepared the Columbus contact goal on the Anaheim ice. The Czech forward shot the puck in front of the goal, from where Cole Sillinger arrived more than twice for goalkeeper John Gibson. The Blue Jackets had more than 12 minutes to equalize after Sillinger’s shot, but they didn’t get anything out of the pressure and in the end they collected the sixth goal in the risk without a goalkeeper.
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Florida won 6: 1 in Detroit smoothly and won for the tenth time in a row. The best team of the Eastern Conference was followed by a two-goal Anton Lundell. “I didn’t even know we could win for the tenth time in a row. I just watched our game, which I liked in the last matches and it never occurred to me that our winning streak lasted so long. We’ve been playing really nice hockey lately. “It’s really hard to beat us,” said Panthers coach Andrew Brunette.
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The Red Wings scored the only goal in the 53rd minute, when after a great Zadin pass, Pius Suter pushed through. Crow was also assisted by Suter’s shot, scoring 15 points in twenty games after his injury.
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Nashville goalkeeper David Rittich has had an unsuccessful evening. Against St. Louis caught the second half of the match, in which he collected four goals from 13 shots. His team lost 3: 8. Rittich replaced Juuse Saros in 29:29 at 1: 4, but failed to stop the Blues cannonade. He held a clean sheet for only two and a half minutes and collected four times by the end of the second period.
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The Blues scored seven goals in the second half and set a new club record. Mainly thanks to the excellent second twenty minutes. Louis won the ninth match in a row and moved up to second place in the Western Conference. Nashville is seventh.
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Washington became another certain participant in the playoffs, even though he played on Sunday.
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| Results of Sunday’s NHL matches |
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| Detroit – Florida 1: 6 (0: 0, 0: 4, 1: 2) |
| Goals: 53rd P. Suter (J. Crow, Zadina) – 35th and 46th A. Lundell, 26th Duclair, 27th S. Reinhart, 35th Mamin, 54th Forsling. Shots on goal: 34:39. Attendance: 14,566. Match Stars: 1. Barkov, 2. A. Lundell, 3. S. Knight (all Florida). |
| Philadelphia – Buffalo 3: 5 (1: 2, 1: 2, 1: 1) |
| Goals: 2. K. Hayes, 22. N. Cates, 55. MacEwen – 9. and 30. V. Olofsson, 35. and 60. Tage Thompson, 18. Bjork. Shots on goal: 35:40. Attendance: 14,377. Match Stars: 1. V. Olofsson, 2. Tokarski (both Buffalo), 3. Hayes (Philadelphia). |
| Anaheim – Columbus 6: 4 (3: 1, 0: 2, 3: 1) |
| Goals: 4th and 6th T. Terry, 8th Mayhew, 42nd Zegras, 44th Fowler, 60th D. Grant – 5th and 22nd Bean, 31st Kuraly, 48th Sillinger (J. Voracek). Shots on goal: 32:35. Attendance: 13,635. Match Stars: 1. T. Terry, 2. Getzlaf, 3. Fowler (all Anaheim). |
| Minnesota – San Jose 5: 4 in overtime (2: 1, 1: 2, 1: 1 – 1: 0) |
| Goals: 8. and 62. Spurgeon, 7. D. Kulikov, 27. Boldy, 49. K. Fiala – 10. Balcers, 22. Nieto, 32. Gregor, 42. Bonino (Hertl). Shots on goal: 28:30. Attendance: 19,029. Match Stars: 1. K. Fiala, 2. Boldy, 3. F. Gaudreau (all Minnesota). |
| Toronto – NY Islanders 4: 2 (1: 1, 2: 1, 1: 0) |
| Goals: 18. Marner, 31. Engvall, 34. W. Nylander, 60. Kämpf – 15. Beauvillier, 21. Bailey. Shots on goal: 37:29. Attendance: 17,464. Match Stars: 1. W. Nylander, 2. J. Campbell, 3. Bunting (all Toronto). |
| Nashville – St. Gallen Louis 3: 8 (1: 1, 1: 7, 1: 0) |
| Goals: 5. Cousins, 39. Kunin, 53. Fabbro – 18. and 37. B. Schenn, 25. and 33. C. Rosén, 30. and 40. Kyrou, 22. Tarasenko, 33. N. Walker. Shots on goal: 36:33. David Rittich caught in Nashville for 30 minutes and 31 seconds, collected four goals from 13 shots and had a success rate of 69.2 percent. Attendance: 17,277. Match stars: 1. C. Rosén, 2. Tarasenko, 3. B. Schenn (all St. Louis). |
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