The most delicious and sweet season has begun in the big hockey season part — the playoffs of the National Hockey League. The Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders were destined to open the battle for the 2024 Stanley Cup. Both teams already met at a similar stage exactly a year ago. That series ended with the Hurricanes winning six games (4-2).
A year later, not much has changed: Carolina is still considered one of the main contenders for the Stanley Cup, and the Islanders were one of the last to jump into the playoffs. The key difference over the past year is the composition of the teams. Mainly, of course, “Carolina”. The Hurricanes bosses worked actively in the summer, and then at the transfer deadline, carrying out a number of striking transactions. Among them, we highlight the addition of the Russian delegation to the Canes camp: Pyotr Kochetkov and Andrey Svechnikov were alternately joined by ex-Washington Capitals stars and close friends of Alexander Ovechkin Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Taking into account the fact that the Isles roster is also rich in our hockey players (the goalkeeping duo of Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov, as well as defender Alexander Romanov), the confrontation between the “Hurricanes” and the “Islanders” can well be called Russian.
This thesis was confirmed in the very first minutes of the opening match of the series. In the very opening of the meeting in Raleigh, “Carolina” received the right to play on the power play, and Evgeniy Kuznetsov successfully converted the extra one. Kuzya played the last five matches of the regular season without scoring points, and his goalless streak was 14 games. The star Russian conducted his master class exactly when it was necessary, at the same time showing his signature birdie. Thanks to this puck, Kuzya equaled Igor Larionov in career goals in Stanley Cup matches (30). The legendary Semyon Varlamov, playing his first NHL playoff game since June 2021, found himself out of work after a shot from his compatriot.
“»It was important to convert the power play. Usually I pass from this zone, but then I saw that no one is coming at me, so I decided to quit. It turned out well,” this is how Evgeniy explained the episode with his goal.
The Islanders prepared a very prompt response to Cousy's puck. Patrick Roy's players only needed a few minutes to regain their balance. And this could not have happened without the participation of the Russians. Alexander Romanov, who in one episode was hit in the face with a stick by Andrei Svechnikov, scored an effective performance for the first time in his career as a player for the New York Islanders, starting his team’s scoring attack. The first and last time until now that the grandson of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov entered himself into the scoring sheet of an NHL playoff match happened back in July 2021, when Alexander played for the Montreal Canadiens.
After such a bright start to the match, the opponents forgot about the goals for a long time, although the game itself could not be called cautious and closed. Both teams had scoring chances. Especially at the Carolina goal, which was defended not by Pyotr Kochetkov, but by Frederik Andersen, who missed almost six months during the season due to problems with blood clotting. But the 34-year-old Danish goalkeeper was reliable.
The outcome of the match occurred already in the final third of the game. Evgeniy Kuznetsov also added an assist to the goal. It became a victory for Carolina and helped Kuza receive the title of the first star of the meeting. Evgeniy threw a great shot at the goal from the blue line, the puck was thrown on the spot, and Stefan Noesen sent the projectile into the goal.
Subsequently, Patrick Roy, in the hope of a comeback, was forced to remove Semyon Varlamov in favor of the sixth field player, but in vain — Martin Necas quickly hit the empty goal of the Islanders. 3:1 — “Carolina,” like last season, started the series against the “Islanders” with a victory.
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