by Holger Neumann, Friday April 7, 2023, reading time: approx. 2 minutes
The Seattle Kraken now have their place in the finals fixed.
In a wild game on their own ice, the Detroit Red Wings gambled away their last chance of qualifying for the finals, losing 7-6 on penalties to the Buffalo Sabers. With a deficit of nine points and four games left, the end of the season for Moritz Seider’s team is now also mathematically sealed.
The former Mannheimer once again gave everything in the game with the character of a final: Almost 29 minutes of ice time, two assists and five hits are evidence of a committed game in which the Red Wings were already 4:6 behind after 44 minutes. They fought against the threatened equalizer and equalized after exactly 59 minutes with the extra attacker on the ice with goals from Jonatan Berggren (49th) and David Perron.
So it went first into overtime and finally into the shooting competition. Here Buffalo’s Alex Tuch sank the decisive attempt. The two points keep the Sabers, for whom JJ Peterka failed to score in ten and a half minutes of ice time, in the running for the playoffs.
Disappointingly for the Sabers, none of the teams ahead of them lost feathers. The Florida Panthers clearly dispatched the Ottawa Senators with Tim Stützle in a highly heated match that featured multiple fistfights and disqualifications for, among others, Matthew (Florida) and Brady (Ottawa) Tkachuk, veteran Marc Staal and even Ottawa’s coach DJ Smith. In the end, the memorable match, in which referees awarded more than 150 penalty minutes, was 7-2 for the Florida Panthers. The Senators braced themselves against the defeat with all their might, fired 58 shots on goal, nine of them by Tim Stützle alone, but left their six power plays unused.
The Panthers thus ended the Canadian capitals’ play-off ambitions – and at the same time consolidated their wild card place.
It remains extremely tight in the Eastern Conference, however, because both the Pittsburgh Penguins (4-1 against Minnesota) and the New York Islanders (6-1 against Tampa Bay Lightning) each won their games on their own ice.
In the Western Conference, the Seattle Kraken made the playoffs for the first time in their second season. They won 4-2 against the Arizona Coyotes, led by another strong player, Philipp Grubauer (27 saves, 93.1 percent catch quota). The San Jose Sharks with Nico Sturm lost their home game against champion Colorado with 2:6. Mikko Rantanen scored his sixth NHL hat-trick for the Denver visitors. The Chicago Blackhawks with Lukas Reichel lost 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks.
The other results of last night at a glance:
New Jersey Devils – Columbus Blue Jackets 8:1
Boston Bruins – Toronto Maple Leafs 2:1 (OT)
Montreal Canadiens – Washington Capitals 6:2
Nashville Predators – Carolina Hurricanes 3:0
St. Louis Blues – New York Rangers 3:2 (OT)
Dallas Stars – Philadelphia Flyers 4:1
Vegas Golden Knights – Los Angeles Kings 5:2