It was a successful Tuesday evening for the German NHL cracks: Moritz Seider (Detroit), Philipp Grubauer (Seattle) and Nico Sturm (San Jose) were all able to celebrate two points and a win in the end. And all three played a key role in the success of their teams. With a total of four assists, Seider in particular had an absolutely great day. The 21-year-old, named Man of the Year by Eishockey NEWS in 2022, had three assists in the first period of the Red Wings’ 7-5 home win over the Winnipeg Jets, in which his team took an early 3-0 lead. After the Jets had fought their way back into the game, Seider provided the template for the trend-setting 5:3 with a majority shortly before the end of the second period. In the final section, Detroit brought the two-goal lead over time. With his fourth assist, Seider equaled the Detroit Red Wings franchise record for defensemen – most recently, Mike Green managed four assists in a game on October 5, 2017. Seider also became the fourth survivor to have four assists in a game aged 21 or younger, alongside Cale Makar, Samuel Girard (both Colorado) and Drew Doughty (Los Angeles).
With a strong 32 saves, German international goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer held on to his Seattle Kraken’s 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabers. In an exciting game that was evenly balanced for a long time, two goals from Matty Beniers and Justin Schultz put Seattle on the winning track early in the final period. Buffalo’s connection to 3:4 through Alex Tuch’s 20th goal of the season finally came too late 22 seconds before the end of the game. For Seattle it was the sixth win in a row, the Grubauer team is still surprisingly sovereign in the top three in the Pacific Division.
Nico Sturm’s tenth goal of the season helped his San Jose Sharks win 4-2 away at the Arizona Coyotes. The 2022 Stanley Cup champion with the Colorado Avalanche scored the 2-2 equalizer for the guests from California in the 26th minute of the game – and with a move worth seeing! A lightning strike nine seconds into the final period and Jaycob Megna’s first goal of the season in the 55th minute gave the Sharks two points against their neighbors and inflicted the Coyotes’ sixth straight loss.
Sebastian Gross
The games at a glance:
Buffalo – Seattle 3:4 (1:1, 1:1, 1:2)
Carolina – New Jersey 3:5 (1:1, 2:2, 0:2)
Detroit – Winnipeg 7:5 (3:1, 2:2, 2:2)
NY Rangers – Minnesota 4:3 nP
Pittsburgh – Vancouver 5:4 (3:3, 2:0, 0:1)
Tampa Bay – Columbus 6:3 (2:0, 1:1, 3:2)
NY Islanders – Dallas nP 1:2 (1:1, 0:0, 0:0, 0:0, 0:1)
St. Louis – Calgary 4:3 nV (1:2, 0:1, 2:0, 1:0)
Arizona – San Jose 2:4 (2:1, 0:1, 0:2)
Colorado – Florida 4:5 (1:3, 0:1, 3:1)