Series highlights: Frustrated by the score (4-1), Pietrangelo swings an axe at Draisaitl

Two games were played last night on the Bettman circuit.

Early in the evening, the Toronto Maple Leafs faced off against the Florida Panthers, an important match-up in view of the fact that the series was led 3-0 by the Floridian outfit.

Next, the Oilers tried to tie their series with the Golden Knights. The latter held a 2-1 lead going into last night’s game.

In short, here are the highlights of the evening:

Finally, the Leafs’ big guns woke up!

You know it. When it counts, the Leafs’ star players tend to sleep on gas. The proof?

Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander combined for a whopping zero goals before Game 4 of their series against the Panthers. It’s a serious matter, and they’ve been the focus of a ton of criticism in recent days because of their lacklustre effort in Game 3.

But hey. Yesterday, things were different.

Buoyed by a goal from Nylander and one from Marner, the Toronto team managed to escape Florida with a road win. It was a huge win, and now the Leafs will have the chance to come home and play Game 5 of the series…

Even if the team’s fans already seem to have given up.

Here’s Marner’s goal:

🍁 THE BUDS BY TWO 🍁

Mitch Marner(@Marner93) sneaks one through to increase the @MapleLeafs lead in the third. #StanleyCup

🇺🇸: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/9s9RSVjCPc
🇨🇦: @sportsnet ➡️ https://t.co/29Ipy9moQa pic.twitter.com/NhfDbbB9fl

– NHL (@NHL) May 11, 2023

The Panthers scored with just over seven minutes left in the game, but it was already too late. The game ended 2-1.

The next meeting between the two teams will be played tomorrow evening at 7pm.

Oilers too strong for Knights

Connor McDavid’s team got off to a flying start. Why do I say that?

Because the Oilers scored no less than three goals in the first period. Nick Bjugstad, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm hit the target to give the team an early lead.

For their part, the Golden Knights were never able to buy a goal in the first two periods.

In the second period, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins found the back of the net, and by then the Oilers were leading 4-0. The game was virtually out of reach for Vegas the way the Oilers were behaving on the ice.

They were really dominating.

A Nuge playoff goal is something that can actually be so personal 🥲 pic.twitter.com/51F0yUrZHl

– Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 11, 2023

Like the Panthers, the Knights attempted a late comeback… But the damage had already been done.

Instead, the end of the game saw a very dangerous move, as Alex Pietrangelo violently hit Leon Drasaitl with his stick.

Pietrangelo grabbed his stick with both hands and swung an axe at the German, causing a concussion on the ice:

Alex Pietrangelo gives Leon Draisaitl a two-handed slash after an empty net opportunity. pic.twitter.com/wziPdleLDx

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 11, 2023

We should expect him to be suspended. Even if he was frustrated, Pietrangelo had no valid reason to hit Draisaitl like that.

In any case.

The Oilers thus tied the series (2-2). Game number five between the two teams will also be played on Saturday, but at 10pm.