Rieder beats the Winnipeg Jets with the Flames - Sturm makes his first appearance for Minnesota - further decisions are imminent
Tobias Rieder beamed – and he had every reason to be. With an ultimately safe 4-0, the Landshuter defeated his team Calgary Flames The Winnipeg Jets also played in game four of the best-of-five series and moved into the play-off round of 3 with a 1-3 win in the NHL Stanley Cup Qualifiers. Rieder contributed the assist to make it 0-57 by Sean Monahan (XNUMXth), meaning he had one goal and one assist in four games in the series - a good record for a player who is primarily occupied with defensive tasks. “It feels great, we really wanted to win this game,” Rieder said on Flames TV.
Calgary set the course for progressing in the first third. The Flames' strong third line of attack scored the first two goals through Dillon Dube (4th) and Sam Bennett (20th), before Monahan and Rasmus Andersson (58th) eliminated any remaining doubts about the win in the final minutes. Goalie Cam Talbot was also a rock and celebrated a shutout. "We defended very well, our goalie was our best player, but the special teams were also fantastic throughout the series," said the former DEB-Assistant coach and current Flames head coach Geoff Ward, who also explicitly praised Rieder's formation. “We were physical and played really hard,” Ward added in the post-game press conference.
As in previous games, Rieder got around ten minutes of ice time alongside Derek Ryan and Mark Jankowski and was also an important factor in the Flames' penalty killing. In game one of the series, the 27-year-old even scored the winning goal when he was outnumbered. “The goal gave me self-confidence and I'm trying to take that into every game now,” said Rieder, who now has some time to regenerate with his teammates and waits for their opponents in the round of 39. “We’re going into this fully motivated,” announced the XNUMX-time international.
There was light and shadow Nico Storm close together. On the one hand, the Augsburg native was able to celebrate his NHL play-off debut for the Minnesota Wild and thus received reward for the hard work that the 25-year-old had put into preparing for the restart. On the other hand, Minnesota lost 0-3 to the Vancouver Canucks in game three and is now down 1-2 in the series in wins. Brock Boeser (34th), Antoine Roussel (42nd) and Elias Pettersson (59th) scored the goals for the Canucks, who can decide the series on Saturday night.
But Minnesota is not giving up yet. "We have a chance to come back," said head coach Dean Evason, who gave Sturm a good ten minutes of ice time, in the press conference. He expressly praised his German playoff debutant. "He was really good," said Evason, who explained Sturm's inclusion as follows: "We wanted a bit more size in the game, and he is also someone who can play face-offs and shorthanded." The center had worked harder for his NHL chance than ever before. "I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to play," Sturm said. Now he was given the opportunity he deserved.
There's a lot at stake in the next duel with the Canucks, not just for Minnesota - for them too Leon draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers face the Chicago Blackhawks. The Oilers are 1-2 in wins and now need two wins in a row. “We know the situation we are in and have to do everything we can to win two games in a row,” Draisaitl said after game three against Chicago. The New York Islanders at Tom Kühnhackl and goalkeeper Thomas Greiss have another match point on Friday in game four of the series against the Florida Panthers (2:1). Korbinian Holzer and the Nashville Predators, on the other hand, are also under pressure given a 1-2 deficit after wins against the Arizona Coyotes.
Photo: Dominic Pencz