Ruslan Fedotenko's team did not let Chicago take first place, and Alexey Ponikarovsky's Kings led the championship NHL

Yesterday, the Stanley Cup winner Chicago Blackhawks, having lost in an away match to the team of Ukrainian Ruslan Fedotenko - New York Rangers - 2:3, missed the opportunity to lead the Western Conference and the league table. The leader in the West and in the regular season is the Los Angeles Kings, for which another Ukrainian hockey player, Alexey Ponikarovsky, plays. In the East, the first place is shared by three clubs, and the 2010 playoff finalist Philadelphia Flyers stands out among them, having won four victories in a row.

At the beginning of the regular season of the National Hockey League, the Chicago Blackhawks are not always able to demonstrate the level of play that allowed Joel Quinneville's team to win the Stanley Cup in the last championship. The leaders of the Chicago attack, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, are performing inconsistently. Another first-line forward, Marian Hossa, after scoring 11 points in seven starting games using the goal + pass system, finished the next four matches without results, and then was completely injured.

Nevertheless, the Blackhawks included hockey players who managed to lead their partners during a difficult period. Defender Duncan Keith was recognized as a “third star” by the NHL last week. In the traditional competition, he lost only to forward Joe Thornton of the Anaheim Ducks, who scored 8 points (3+5), and Boston Bruins goalkeeper Tim Thomas, who became the best player of the seven-day period, who kept two clean sheets. Chicago beat the Los Angeles Kings (3:1) and the Minnesota Wild (3:1) and lost to the Edmonton Oilers (4:7). Keith scored one accurate shot and six assists in these meetings. Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp was also great. With ten goals scored, he leads the list of the league's best snipers.

Yesterday, the Quinneville team, which had seven wins in 13 matches, could take first place not only in the Western Conference, but also in the league table. The Chicagoans played in New York with the Rangers, for which Ruslan Fedotenko plays. Last week, the Ukrainian had two assists - both in the match against the Atlanta Thrashers, which New York lost with a score of 4:6. Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith set up the first goal against Rangers. Playing off their numerical advantage, they delivered the puck to the post area, where Tomas Kopecky only had to place his stick in a timely manner, which was not difficult. However, Chicago failed to maintain the winning score. Brandon Dubinsky, who became the real leader of the Rangers in the absence of the injured Marian Gaborik, scored a double and put his team ahead. Then, when Patrick Kane tied the score, New York scored another goal from Erik Christensen, who beat one of the NHL's best defensemen, Brian Campbell, who threw himself at his feet and accurately shot past goalkeeper Marty Turco. The Blackhawks' late-game rush came to nothing. Goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist made no mistakes and held on for the hosts to win 3-2. She led the Rangers to fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The Blackhawks remained only second in the West.

The leadership in the Western Conference and the overall standings was retained by the club of another Ukrainian, Alexey Ponikarovsky, the Los Angeles Kings, which played three matches less than Chicago. After losing to the Blackhawks, the Los Angeles team won the next two matches: away against the Dallas Stars (5:2) and at home against the New Jersey Devils (3:1). Ponikarovsky scored one goal - against Dallas.

At the top of the Eastern Conference standings, three clubs have the same number of points (15 each): Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers. Over the past seven days, the 2010 Stanley Cup finalists from Philadelphia performed better than the rest, winning four matches in a row. Peter Laviolette's team was helped to win consistently by the confident performance of goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky, who won his place in the starting lineup from the experienced Brian Boucher. The 22-year-old goalkeeper, who arrived in the off-season from Metallurg Novokuznetsk, made 116 saves in four games, reflecting an average of 93.5% of shots. As a result, the Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabers (6:3), Pittsburgh Penguins (3:2), New York Islanders (6:1) and Carolina Hurricanes (3:2).

In yesterday's game with Carolina, the Philadelphia club also won, despite the absence of one of its leading forwards, Daniel Briere, who received a three-game suspension for hitting Islanders player Frans Nielsen. To make up for the loss, Laviolette released Jeff Carter instead of Briere as a center forward in a line with Scott Hartnell and Villa Leino - and he was not mistaken. Carter assisted twice on Hartnell's double. Claude Giroux scored another goal for Philadelphia. “Despite the challenges, we tried to match the Flyers' fluid style of play and proved that we remain an effective team,” Scott Hartnell said after the game.

Sergey Melnik

Ukrainians took part in leadership