Oilers lose in game four against Chicago - Minnesota fails despite Sturm's goal - Islanders are in the round of 16
Leon draisaitl made no secret of his disappointment. “It’s frustrating,” said the German NHL top star after the season with his Edmonton Oilers had ended so abruptly and much sooner than hoped. A direct shot from Czech Dominik Kubalik to make it 3-2 for the Chicago Blackhawks proved to be the winning goal in game four of the best-of-five series and ensured the Oilers were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
Friday evening at Rogers Place in Edmonton was similarly bitter Nico Storm and Minnesota Wild in the unfortunate 4:5 after extra time against the Vancouver Canucks. Minnesota initially led 3-1 and after the Canucks equalized in the meantime, Augsburg took the lead again with his first NHL goal to make it 4-3 (40th). But then Bo Horvat (55th) saved Vancouver into overtime - and there was a shot from Canucks defender Chris Tanev after eleven seconds, the third win for Vancouver in the series was perfect.
Edmonton scored the first goal early against Chicago through Josh Archibald (1st), but the Blackhawks turned the game around in the first third through Brandon Saad (6th) and Matthew Highmore (8th). Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (23') made it 2-2 again, but Hawks goalie Corey Crawford thwarted all further chances - including Draisaitl's three shots on goal, which the Cologne native made in his almost 25 minutes of ice time. “We had too many small mistakes that cost us the game. You can’t afford that, the league is too good for that,” said Draisaitl in the subsequent press conference and added: “We had enough opportunities to get back into the game.”
When he scored his goal, Sturm moved down the left wing into the attacking third and duped Canucks goalie Jacob Markström with a shot from a tight angle. The 25-year-old beamed as he drove to the bank and high-fived his colleagues. This time, Sturm received almost two minutes more ice time than in his play-off debut from head coach Dean Evason, only a short time was missing and he would have been the winning goal scorer. But then the fourth game of the series developed its own drama and the season was suddenly over for Minnesota. “It was a shock, but I’m proud of how the team performed as a whole,” said Evason in the press conference.
In the first game of Friday in Toronto they use New York Islanders their second match point against the Florida Panthers and moved into the play-off round of 5. They achieved the decisive third success in the series with a confident 1-XNUMX win Tom Kühnhackl and Goalkeeper Thomas Greiss not for use. For Korbinian Holzer and the Nashville Predators The season ended just as suddenly as it did for Leon Draisaitl and Nico Sturm. The 3:4 after overtime against the Arizona Coyotes meant the third defeat in the series. The 63-time national player was not called up by Predators head coach John Hynes.
On Saturday and Sunday the seeding lists in the East and West will be played out before the pairings for the round of 16 for the Stanley Cup are determined. Four German NHL players (Philipp Grubauer, Tobias Rieder, Kühnhackl and Greiss) are still represented in the fight for the championship in the world's best ice hockey league.
Photos: City-Press