Philadelphia has been waiting for Ivan Fedotov for a long time. At first he played in the KHL, won Olympic silver with the Russian national team and the Gagarin Cup with CSKA, then, when he decided to go abroad, he was drafted into the army. After his service, he spent another year at CSKA, having a valid NHL contract in his hands; The matter was widely discussed and discussed on both sides of the ocean.
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“They have been two very difficult years.” Fedotov’s first interview in the United States.
Finally, last spring saw Ivan’s long-awaited arrival in Philadelphia. He replaced Swede Sam Ersson, but is yet to get his first NHL win. In today’s game against Seattle he missed five goals in two periods, two of them in eight seconds.
The calendar of the “pilots” at the beginning of the season is more than enviable. A long trip through the cities of the Western Conference, more than a week away from home. Starting with a shootout win over Vancouver, they then lost to Calgary and Edmonton, and now to Seattle.
Although everything started well, Scott Laughton opened the scoring in the first period, putting the puck in like Bobrov after an inaccurate throw by Peeling. But shortly before half-time, the Kraken pinned their opponent in the zone and, as a result, Brandon Montour’s long-range shot passed through Fedotov.
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Philadelphia, however, immediately found an answer to this: Laughton himself tried it, finishing off the quick attack with an accurate shot from an acute angle. The second half, however, was already dictated by Seattle and became a nightmare for Fedotov.
Early on, McCann hit him hard on the power play, hitting the house. It wasn’t even necessary to have much traffic in front of the door.
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Then Eeli Tolvanen put Seattle ahead for the first time: Fedotov deflected Burakovsky’s initial shot, but could not hold the puck and allowed the opponent to easily finish on the spot.
Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can watch the video on the NHL website.
A few minutes later, McCann and Eberle literally destroyed the Philadelphia defense: Fedotov, even with all his desire, would hardly have been able to do anything. Eight seconds later, Seattle, having lost a faceoff at center ice, immediately grabbed the puck, and Shane Wright with a magnificent shot forced the Russian to capitulate for the fifth time in the game. In the third period Ersson came on in place of Fedotov.
Philadelphia did not give up and revived the intrigue by scoring two goals. Matvey Michkov also participated in one of them. Thus, the scoring streak of the rookie star of the “pilots” was extended to three games. But the visitors could not recover; Three minutes before the siren sounded, Bjorkstrand extinguished the comeback attempts with the Kraken’s sixth goal, setting the final score.
Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can watch the video on the NHL website.
If for Michkov personally the debut season has gotten off to a great start, for Fedotov it couldn’t be worse. He missed five against Calgary, five today, and fans on social media and journalists are already starting to feel disappointed.
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Michkov crazy match! He scored his first double in the NHL, scoring a ghost goal
“The decision to give him a two-year, $6.55 million contract was not a risk; this contract shows that you have confidence that he is ready for the NHL. But he’s not ready yet,” wrote Kevin Kurtz of The Athletic.
The goalie curse continues to weigh on Philadelphia. If things continue this way, Alexey Kolosov will soon receive his long-awaited call-up from the AHL.
