Russian forward “Tampa Bay” Nikita Kucherov became the real star of the opening match of the second round of the NHL playoffs with “Florida”. He scored the puck and made a scoring pass that captivated the fans. Some even suggested starting to fine for such feints!

Who is the favorite here?

The confrontation between Tampa Bay and Florida is not only a fight for the conference finals, but also a real derby. The “Battle of Florida” started at Sunrise because it was the Panthers who won the regular season. They are also the nominal favorites of the series, while most experts still bet on Lightning. On the Lightning’s side are many years of playoff experience and a well-played backbone of the team that hasn’t changed much since the last two winning seasons. “Florida” is clearly inferior to the opponent in this component: the winning streak with “Washington” was the first for her in 26 years.

Nevertheless, the “Panthers” managed to seize the initiative and at the end of the first period open an account, and by the end of the first twenty minutes, slightly rerolled the “lightning bolts” 11:8. However, Florida failed to establish complete dominance on the ice, having missed three chances to realize the majority in the second period. Although the Panthers are the most scoring team in the NHL, they have never managed to play an extra player since the start of the playoffs. This is a real disaster for a club that wants to claim something.

“After this, the defender will have nightmares”

And Tampa took advantage of their chances. And how! At first, Kucherov earned the majority, who ran one to zero, forcing the Florida defender to foul. And then, having gone to the realization of the excess in the majority team, the Russian striker created beauty. Having passed along the left flank with the puck, Kucherov easily beat the approaching defender, rolled out to the gate and passed to the right edge, where the birthday boy Corey Perry had only to substitute a stick – 1:1. The fans were delighted not so much by the shot on goal as by the Russian’s assist and his daring feint when beating Panthers defender Aaron Ekblad. Judging by the reaction of social networks, Nikita put America on his ears.

“It’s time to start penalizing for such feints,” a fan under the nickname dadaspantry wrote on Twitter.

“Ekblad seems to still be looking for underpants after he was undressed by Cooch,” JuliePriefer laughed.

“After this, the defender will have nightmares,” Boltsfan727 concluded.

“Tampa” dominated, Kucherov abandoned

Florida took the lead again a few minutes later, but the referee disallowed the goal after the Tampa challenge: the puck was abandoned after it went out of the game, rebounding to the Panthers hockey player from the out-of-bounds net. This fact, as well as the silent stands, who did not make any effort to support their team, completely spoiled the Florida game mood.

In the third period, only Tampa reigned on the ice, which scored three unanswered goals at the gates of Sergei Bobrovsky, passing the opponent 18:10. One of them was chalked up by Kucherov, who was at his best that day: this time he converted the majority on his own, sending the puck into the goal from the right face-off circle. Florida did not want to put up with the goal: the coaching staff requested a challenge, claiming that Bobrovsky was deliberately prevented from repelling the shot. But the referee did not satisfy the request, there was no interference with the goalkeeper.

This goal helped Kucherov score 10th point in the current playoffs. After several days of illness, it seems that the Russian has begun to gain momentum again and is looking more and more like the best version of himself: in the previous two Stanley Cup draws, he has consistently scored more than 30 points.

The stands of the Panthers’ home arena were almost completely empty a few minutes before the end of the third period, plunging commentators into shock: unusual behavior for fans of a team that is fighting for the conference final. In absolute silence, Tampa celebrated their first victory, taking the lead in the series. The next meeting of the teams will take place on Friday night.