Colorado-St. There is no need to be bored in the Louis series. The central figure of the entire match was the striker “Lavigne”. Nazem Kadri. After four games, his team is 3-1 ahead and one step away from reaching the Western Conference Finals. The 31-year-old striker’s contribution to the victory is invaluable.

One of the most controversial players in the NHL, a true red rag for the Blues. It all started last year when Kadri hit Justin Faulk hard in the head in the first game of the series and was later suspended for 8 games. Neither meeting with Gary Bettman nor filing an appeal shortened his sentence. Nazem did not play in that playoff again. About a year later, The Players’ Tribune posted a massive first-person account of the hockey player, where he admitted that he hadn’t slept for a week after the Faulk episode. “I hate disappointing people. And when I look up from the ice and see Justin lying there…” The hockey player has made it clear that he no longer intends to disappoint his team and that disqualifications in the playoffs (he had three in his career) are a thing of the past.

The current regular season is definitely the best in an older player’s career. He never scored 87 points – he beat his best result with 26 points. His partner, Nathan McKinnon, even resented that such a player could not be called up to the All-Star Game. Despite his injury in early April, Kadri did not lose his form and did not slow down in the playoffs. He has 10 (5+5) points in 8 games. In the fourth game with the Blues, he scored a hat-trick, which was his first in the Stanley Cup.

However, Kadri could not be the hero of the series due to his goals. In the third game, “St. Louis”, along with the defender of Calle Rosen, flew to the Jordan Binnington gate, after which the goalkeeper could not continue the game. Moreover, the next day it was announced that he would no longer play in this series. And this is a real disaster for his team. The Canadian has prepared for the current playoffs and gave his best, despite having been unsuccessful in recent seasons. His replacement, Ville Husso, cannot stay at this level. Naturally, Blues fans took up arms against Kadri, who was blamed for his goalkeeper’s injury. However, was he to blame? An analyst on the NHL Network revealed that Kadri did not intend to “kill” Binnington and accidentally bumped into him.

Jordan himself did not believe it. After the match, Kadri said that Binnington threw a water bottle at her while giving an interview. True, it was not possible to find video footage of throwing a bottle, but journalists reported that it was in St. He confirmed that Louis is his goalkeeper. The attacks against Nazem did not end there. She was attacked with criticism and insults on the Internet. Apparently they were Blues fans. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly Louis police launched an investigation into threats against the Colorado forward, he said. They emerged on the basis of racism. Associated Press employees found posts where account holders called the hockey player “Arab shit” and also talked about terrorism. Other anonymous users, whose posts were later deleted, made death threats. Akim Aliu, one of the founding members of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, wrote: “Kadri was exposed to so many racist attacks and threats that he had to call the police”.

This is not Kadri’s first encounter with racism. Nazem grew up in London, Ontario, Canada. Her family is Lebanese, and Nazem herself is a practicing Muslim. “I don’t remember how many incidents I had to endure, especially at a very young age. But moments like this hurt me.”— said the hockey player as part of the #TapeOutHate campaign against racism.

His teammates in Colorado supported Kadri, and opponents did not comment in any way on Nazem’s actions after a racist scandal. The Internet is full of words of support for the hockey player, from which all insults disappear. “Every single one of the messages I receive is St. I know it doesn’t reflect your position as a fan of Louis. But as for the haters, it’s for them.” – This is how the player interpreted the score of 4 (3+1) in the fourth match.

Subscribe to the telegram channel of Daria Tuboltseva