Kucherov and Vasilevskiy once again dominated McKinnon and Nichushkin of Colorado.

The match in Florida between the "Lightning" and the "Avalanche" drew attention primarily due to the face-off between two recognized NHL scoring leaders of recent years – Russian Nikita Kucherov and Canadian Nathan MacKinnon. Last season, these two forwards fiercely battled each other until the very last match for the Art Ross Trophy, which ultimately went to the 30-year-old graduate of the Moscow "White Bears" school. This season, the 29-year-old native of Halifax quickly took the lead in the scoring race, occasionally allowing challengers like Kirill Kaprizov from "Minnesota," his teammate Cale Makar, and currently Martin Necas from "Carolina" to catch up.

Nikita has managed to stay somewhat distant from his main competitor, yet still within sight, just one or two successful games away. In their first head-to-head duel, which took place at the "Colorado" arena at the end of October, the Russian forward outperformed Nathan both individually and as part of the team. The "Lightning" won convincingly 5:2, with Kucherov recording 3 points (1+2) compared to 2 points (0+2) for his opponent. Surely, the ambitious leader of the "Avalanche" did not forget this defeat, and in the rematch held in Florida, he aimed to take revenge for that setback, but ended up facing a total and crushing defeat.

"Tampa Bay" dominated at home, defeating the guests 8:2, forcing the captain of the "Avalanche" to have what was arguably one of the worst games of his career, at least this season. MacKinnon left the ice without scoring any points, finishing with a (-3) plus/minus rating. Nikita Kucherov, on the other hand, was one of the most noticeable players on his team, again racking up 3 points (1+2) in this match. First, our forward assisted his teammate Jake Guentzel on the second goal scored by the "Lightning," and then, at the end of the first period, he scored himself, sending Finnish goaltender Annunen to the bench.

However, his replacement, Russian goalie Alexander Georgiev, did not fare much better. The 28-year-old netminder clearly struggled, constantly appearing anxious and even breaking his stick after Braden Point scored a goal, to which Kucherov also provided an assist. After allowing three goals on 17 shots, Georgiev was replaced by the Finnish goalie again. In the third period, the "Lightning" scored two more times, with the second goal partially attributed to our "Avalanche" forward Valery Nichushkin, who inadvertently set up the goal for the opponent.

Big Val, just like MacKinnon and Georgiev, cannot count this game as a positive experience. The 29-year-old native of Chelyabinsk managed only one assist in the match. He should have had a second assist, but NHL statisticians did not credit him with a touch on the second goal scored by "Colorado," which went into Vasilevskiy's net off of his unfortunate teammate Point. The goal was credited to Ivan Ivan. However, this did not affect the outcome of the game in any way.

The "Lightning" crushed their opponent with a score of 8:2, and the 30-year-old primary goaltender of the team recorded his 305th NHL victory, saving 23 out of 25 shots on goal.

***

The match between "Philadelphia" and "Vegas" was much more intense and competitive, with the winner determined only in a shootout. The final score was 5:4 in favor of the visitors. Both teams' nets were defended from the start by Russian goalies – Ilya Samsonov for the "Golden Knights" and Ivan Fedotov for the "Flyers." It cannot be said that they played flawlessly, but they cannot be blamed for the goals conceded. The forwards from both teams executed their plays exceptionally well. We are particularly pleased to highlight two of our forwards from "Vegas," Ivan Barbashev (10 goals) and Pavel Dorofeyev (11), who each scored once in the second period, helping their team start a comeback from a 0:3 deficit.

The fourth and what turned out to be the final goal for "Philadelphia" in this game was scored by Matvei Michkov. For the 19-year-old Russian, this marks his 8th goal in his debut season. He was named the first star of the match. Our young forward now has 17 points (8+9) in 20 games this season. Matvei leads the rookie scoring race, outpacing Logan Stankoven from "Dallas" by 2 points.

Subscribe to the “MK-Sport” channel on Telegram and be the first to receive news, articles, and photo galleries about sports and athletes!