Top scorer Pratt: Feels super fun after so many tough years
New York. The New Jersey Devils are ready for the Stanley Cup Game.
They got their ticket to the party with a 5-3 win over Ottawa last night.
– It’s a very pleasant feeling after so many years of hard work and lack of results, shooter Jesper Pratt tells Sportbladet.
It’s been five years since the Red and Black Bastards from New Jersey last appeared in the playoffs and even before that oddity, in the spring of 2018, they landed under the mark for five straight seasons.
But now the team with its home address in downtown Newark is going to ball at the Citadel. It became evident when they beat Ottawa 5-3 at home at The Rock last night, while Florida lost 4-3 to the New York Rangers.
– Yes, it is a very pleasant feeling after many years of hard work and lack of results. It’s particularly fun to ‘win’ in front of the home crowd, Jesper Bratt says as we get to him after the final whistle.
Now it’s just a matter of taking one match at a time and setting the benchmark for the best part of a season.
Jesper himself was responsible for the 31st strike of the season when, on the restart, he confirmed a foul lane in Senators territory, darted freely into the box and splashed the puck without parole.
– It was nice to splash another basin and help the team win, he comments.
For the Senators, the heavy loss against the Devils means that the dream of a final game may be over and that Washington will also struggle after being hit last night in Pittsburgh.
They recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the third period, but with only one minute and twenty seconds left, Anthony Mantha hit a hard pass to Evgeny Malkin to tie the game.
– It was like a playoff, and therefore it was very cool to score that goal, says the hero.
Yes, with the aforementioned Florida loss that meant the Penguins now had a small three-point gap all the way to the dark under the line.
Rickard Raquel contributed an assist and Washington’s Rasmus Sundin pulled up his first career NHL fight against Josh Archibald.
The New York Islanders also had a chance to make a move, but lost 2-0 at home to Buffalo. Which therefore has a bit of a downturn in the race again.
– We played mature tonight, says veteran and top scorer Kele Okposo.
In the battle for the western lines, it was the Calgary Flames who had a successful night. They beat San Jose 5-3 while both Nashville and Winnipeg lost – the latter 4-1 against the Los Angeles Kings after two goals from Viktor Arvidsson.
This meant that the Flames were now “only” four points over the Jets in the last wildcard spot again.
Dallas has been sitting in first place in the Central Division for months, but last night they were upset by the Minnesota Wild.
The latter beat Chicago 3-1 at home in St. Louis. Paul At the same time, the Stars lost by the same numbers to Vancouver, Texas.
– You always watch the table and we know what happened tonight. Now we have to fix this in the next game, says Stars veteran Ryan Sutter.
Elias Pettersson assisted on the Canucks’ goal, thus moving away from the Swedish league’s goalscoring lead. He now has 91 points – against 90 for second place Erik Carlsson.
Calle Järnkrok scored another goal—his 18th of the season—in the summit meeting between Toronto and Carolina in Raleigh. But it didn’t help. Despite the fact that the guests twice came back from deficits, the Canes team won in the end with a score of 5-3.
– The result was not what we wanted, but it was probably our best game, said Leafs coach Sheldon Cave.
Jesper Fast made two assists for the home team.
In a tough game at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the game was 3-3 between the Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights. Then Nicholas Roy decided to receive the guests in overtime.
William Carlson assists.
In the battle in the bottom of the Bell Center, Montreal was able to edge out Columbus by a score of 8-2. Rafael Harvey Benard completed the hat-trick.
The Blues beat the Ducks 6-3 in Anaheim. Jacob Silverberg played until the goal was scored.