The current Stanley Cup draw looks surprisingly competitive even by NHL standards, which have already accustomed hockey fans to the various sensations – in the first round, fans saw 7 matches in 5 of 8 series. One of the most interesting was the confrontation between Tampa and Toronto, whose winner was determined only in the decisive match. It looks like a much stronger beast awaited John Cooper’s team in the second round – the Panthers have been the best team of the regular season this season and have effortlessly dealt with Washington in 6 games.

And if the game really feels like Tampa and Florida have an equal chance of reaching the conference finals, then you can’t tell by the score in the series – the current champion took 2 games away and came home with a comfortable advantage. . Even this fact could have knocked Andrew Brunette’s men out of the saddle, but Nikita Kucherov complicated the already difficult life of the Panthers in this series: 4 seconds before the end of the second match, Kuch gave a pass to Ross Colton and allowed Lightning. to win during the main time. For a psychologically unstable team, such a situation might be cause for panic, but Florida has proven time and time again during the regular season that everything is right for his psyche. And his fate in the playoffs depended on the reaction of the President’s Cup holder to these conditions: if Kucherov and his company took the lead in the series with a score of 3:0, the Panthers would practically have no chance of salvation.

The guests, predictably, did not fly forward from the first second and were in no hurry to open. With the current Tampa Bay, every reckless defensive play is packed with an accepted puck, and Florida players knew that fact better than most.

Of course, special attention was paid to the main star of Lightning, Nikita Kucherov. In every match of this match, the home side 86th point effortlessly crushed the opponent’s defense and drew the goodies. However, the first chance to score at the 3rd meeting of the series came not from Kuch, but from another Russian striker – Maxim Mamin took advantage of the careless play of the Lightning defenders and went on a date with Vasilevsky, but Florida striker. Couldn’t beat the current owner of Conn Smythe.

Corey Perry, unlike the CSKA Moscow alum, has it all in practice – the legendary forward, who has been disastrously unlucky in the playoffs in recent years, played great on the penalty spot and corrected Ryan McDonagh’s shot from the blue line.

Before describing the ensuing events, it should be noted that Florida experienced disastrous power play issues throughout the playoffs. Boys Andrew Brunett failed to complete any of their 25 tries in 8 games in the current Stanley Cup. A desperate final place between all teams in the playoffs in the majority game certainly damaged the Panthers’ confidence, and they were able to fix that component in Sunday night’s game – Sam Rinehart was able to punish Hagel without forcing it. dismissal.

But in the future, “Tampa” contained branded magic that not a single NHL club had found an antidote in the past 2 years. First, Eric Chernak flashed Sergey Bobrovsky, and then Nikita Kucherov got to work and Steven Stamkos – a great pass to 3:1, and Florida’s prospects in this series became increasingly uncertain.

In the third period, Florida failed to offer the titled opponent anything supernatural: Tampa confidently led the game to victory, one step away from reaching the Eastern Conference finals. And a few minutes before the end of the meeting, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos once again scored, hitting the opponent’s empty goal. With such a game, Yıldırım is increasingly convinced that they can score a golden hat-trick in every match.