New York. Rickard Raquel scored twice as Pittsburgh got another must-win victory last night – the first was probably the strangest goal of his NHL career.
“I was shocked when I saw this puck go in,” he told Sportbladet after the 4-2 win over Philadelphia.
Midway through the first half in the last Pennsylvania Derby of the season, Rikard Raquel scored the unexpected goal.
He got a great position in the middle of the castle and fired a high shot. But the puck bounced off the plexiglass, fell into the back of the Flyers’ Swedish goalkeeper Samuel Ersson – and into the penalty area.
– At first I was very disappointed in myself because I shot from two meters, says the 29-year-old from Stockholm when we talk to him after the final whistle.
– When I saw next that the disc had gone in anyway, I was shocked. Nah, I’m not going to try to fool anyone that it was intentional. The shot was too bad for that, haha. But I also take such a goal, every day of the week.
In a power play just a few minutes later, Rijkaard scored again – and this time it was all better. Evgeny Malkin feinted a shot but instead put the puck straight on the Swede’s stick and managed to score another goal behind Ersson.
– In general we had good speed on the disc and made a lot in that PP and Malkin was doing really well there, continues Rax.
In the end, the Penguins won 4-2, thus reclaiming the last spot in East Florida from Florida – and creeping closer to the New York Islanders, who, meanwhile, lost 2-1 away to Carolina.
But a few points separate the three main dash favorites and nothing will be decided until the final rounds just after Easter.
– No, this is probably just to prepare for the fact that there will be drama along the way. At the same time, we have to try to play one game at a time and not look too far ahead, says tonight’s top scorer.
For a long time, the Washington Capitals have also been in a fight for two playing card spots in the Eastern Conference, but after Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers at home at Capital One Arena, the race may be over.
They have nine points on the streak, with only five games remaining (and in the NHL you only get two points for a win).
– It’s our fault we’re here. We have a responsibility to do as well as we can and we simply don’t.. We haven’t done it today, nor have we done it before, sighs Peter Laviolette.
Mika Zibanejad hit the 39th goal of the season and thus moved to the top of the Swedish Shooting League.
On the other hand, the Ottawa Senators still have a bit of a snag. But if they have even the slightest chance of beating teams that come out on top, they must avoid fads like the one that happened last night, when they were tied — 3-3 — against Old Columbus and then were beaten in overtime.
– When the whole season is in the pot, everyone has to do their best and unfortunately we had a lot of players who weren’t ready tonight, says coach DJ Smith.
Erik Branström had an assist for the Senators and assisted Emil Bemström for the Blue Jackets.
As only the fourth team in history, the Premier League leaders Boston Bruins notched their 60th win on Sunday, away to St. Louis after a penalty shootout (4-3).
The only ones to do this before are the Montreal Canadiens in 1976-77, the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-66 and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-2019.
– We try not to think too much about it and try to focus on the present, but it’s very private, says Brad Marchand.
Swede Oscar Steen, who now had his chance after the coaching staff rested a number of players, scored his first NHL goal of the season and Hambus Lindholm provided the assist.
Toronto lost 6-2 on the road to Detroit, but it was already clear that they would face Tampa in the opening round of the playoffs, so it didn’t matter.
Even worse, goalkeeper Matt Murray was forced to leave the game after an unfortunate collision with Lucas Raymond and possibly suffered a concussion.
– He’ll have tests and we’ll know more on Tuesday, says Coach Sheldon Cave.
Calle Järnkrok scored one of the Leafs goals and Jonathan Berggren one of the Red Wings goals – the latter on a pass from Robert Hägg named Raymond.
It is also worth noting that Austrian Marco Kasper, who was just called up from Rögle by Detroit, made his NHL debut. He was given fifteen minutes of ice time and fired a shot on goal.