Eeli Tolvanen wrote a piece of NHL history when he became the Seattle Kraken’s first goal scorer in the playoffs. Seattle started the playoffs by surprisingly defeating Colorado on the road – there were also away victories in the other three games.
It was the visiting teams’ night in the NHL. All four games ended in away victories, the most surprising of which saw the light of day in Denver, Colorado.
The reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche, were defeated by the Seattle Kraken, who played their first playoff game ever.
Eeli Tolvanen started the season in the Nashville Predators and was sent in December to the Seattle Kraken. A bad trade? A trade from a playoff team to a bottom team? On paper it might have looked that way, but the reality was different.
Nashville has already started an early summer break, while Seattle, with a Tolvanen in a big role, is playing in the playoffs. And not only that: The Kraken opened the playoffs by winning the first game over the reigning champion Colorado Avalanche 3–1.
And the Vichtis guy had the honor of scoring the game’s – and the entire Seattle Kraken’s – first goal in the playoffs. Tovalanen won a puck in the offensive zone and when Aleksandr Georgijev saved his first shot, he put in the rebound instead.
Eeli Tolvanen scored the Seattle Krakens first ever playoff goal.
Bild: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Eeli Tolvanen, Seattle (National Hockey League), NHL
Mikko Rantanen evened the score at 1-1 in the first period, but Colorado’s joys ended there. Alex Wennberg scored the 2–1 goal early in the second period, a goal that would prove to be the winning goal. Morgan Geekie made the final score 3–1 early in the third period.
In the playoffs, hardly anyone cares, but Eeli Tolvanen was chosen as the third best player of the match – Wennberg was chosen as best player before Seattle goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer.
Idel away wins
All teams want home field advantage, that is, to start the playoffs in their home arena and, in the long run, to play several games in their home arena. But despite the fact that home ground tends to give a slight advantage, it was the guests who got to celebrate in the night’s NHL games.
In addition to Seattle surprising Colorado, the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Winnipeg Jets also managed to win their games.
The Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils by a whopping 5-1 and by the same numbers Winnipeg defeated the Vegas Golden Knights. There was also a four-goal difference in the meeting between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa: the guests from Florida won the goal-filled event with 7-3.
The NHL playoffs, 18.4
New Jersey – New York Rangers 5–1
Kaapo Kakko, NYR: 0+1, +2, 14.55
Niko Mikkola, NYR: 0+0, 0, 17.28
Erik Haula, NJD: 0+0, -1, 16.49
Vegas – Winnipeg 1–5
Saku Mäenalanen, WPG: 0+0, 0, 9.08
Toronto – Tampa Bay 3-7
Colorado – Seattle 1–3
Mikko Rantanen, COL: 1+0, 0, 20.41
Artturi Lehkonen, 0+0, -2, 17.14
Eeli Tolvanen, 1+0, 0, 16.08
Video material from Viaplay.
