Montreal hockey players, including Slovakian forward Juraj Slafkovský, advanced to the finals of the Eastern Conference in the overseas NHL. The Canadiens won the decisive seventh meeting of the series on the ice of Buffalo 3:2 after overtime and won the series 4:3 in games. Slafkovský played more than 23 minutes, but did not score in the duel. Montreal will meet the Carolina Hurricanes in the fight for advancement to the finals of the pro league.
Montreal kicked off in the opening period, in which Phillip Danault and Zachary Bolduc scored. However, the “Habs” lost the two-goal lead during the match. Jordan Greenway managed to reduce the score in the 34th minute, and captain Rasmus Dahlin managed to equalize in the seventh minute of the third period. The hero of the duel and the whole series was Alex Newhook. The 25-year-old striker scored Montreal’s advancing goal in the 12th minute of overtimewhen he succeeded with a shot from behind the player under the trap of the Finnish goalkeeper Ukku Pekku Luukkonen.
Newhook had a scoring explosion in the series against the Sabers, scoring six goals. He has a total of seven in the playoffs, his first was also scored in the seventh game of the previous series with Tampa Bay, in which he also scored the winning goal. He managed to decide two series in the seventh game as the second player in the history of the competition. Before him, only Nathan Horton was able to do it in 2011, when his Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup with Zden Char.
Slafkovský spent 23:07 min on the ice. and sent three shots at the opponent’s goal. Montreal will begin the series against Carolina on Friday night on the ice of the regular season winner in the East. The Hurricanes made it to the conference finals after two dominant triumphs over Ottawa and Philadelphia (both 4-0 for the games).
