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Quick Strikes: Lightning prospect Taylor Raddysh sets OHL record for games played in playoffs

Alex Ovechkin has a fan in Mikhail Sergachev.

The Bolts

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a chance to even the series at ones with a win tonight. Hopefully all the rust is off. [NHL dot com]

On Saturday, the Bolts went to work rectifying their mistakes from Game 1 and putting the unsettling defeat in the rear view. Sloppy passing, untimely turnovers, defensive breakdowns, non-existent forecheck, special teams issues, giving up too many odd-man rushes, lack of intensity: you name the most common hockey mistakes and the Lightning committed them Friday night.

Mikhail Sergachev is a fan of Alex Ovechkin, but that appreciation gets put on hold for the next few weeks. [Washington Post]

As a young player in Russia, Mikhail Sergachev would watch YouTube videos of his idol, Alex Ovechkin. He carefully studied the goals, the dekes, the assists. Sergachev, born in Nizhnekamsk, would try to mimic the moves of his fellow Russian — even though Sergachev was training to be a defenseman and Ovechkin is a forward.

Despite missing practice on Saturday, Anton Stralman and Cedric Paquette will be good to go for Sunday. [NHL dot com]

“Superman has kryptonite too,” Cooper said. “We can’t depend on [Andrei Vasilevskiy] to stop the barrage of chances he was getting. We gave Washington more scoring chances in the second period than we gave Boston in four of the five games we played them, the entire game. So when you give up those chances, I look at [Vasilevskiy] and say, ‘God, 4-2. How wasn’t it 8-2?’ That’s the way I look at it.”

The Prospects

The AHL’s new schedule format has been released, meaning we know who the Crunch will play, just not when. [Raw Charge]

The newcomer to the schedule is the Cleveland Monsters. Cleveland was added to the Crunch’s North Division earlier this week, so while it certainly isn’t surprising that they appear on the schedule, it is a bit vexing that they only appear four times. The last time Syracuse and Cleveland matched up against each other was in 2012-13, when the team was known as the Lake Erie Monsters and was affiliated with the Colorado Avalanche.

Lightning prospect Taylor Raddysh has broken the OHL record for most playoff games in one career with 77. It’s a major testiment to his skill and value that his teams either make the playoffs and go far, or he does so well that other teams need him badly for their long playoff run. Raddysh has been in the playoffs in all four of his seasons in the OHL. Hopefully he can increase that number to 79 as his Soo Greyhounds are currently down 2-3 in their series against Hamilton.

The Game

The Winnipeg Jets beat up on the Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 4-2 in the first game of their series. [Sportsnet]

“We’re just moving a lot. The less turnovers we have the faster we go,” Stastny said in describing what it looks like. “The more times we turn it over, we feed it into their game and in turn it makes us look slow. For us, it’s sometimes not making that extra play. Sometimes we get in trouble when we do have the lead, we try that extra play and it sometimes backfires on us.

Mike Fisher, for the second time, announces his retirement. [ESPN]

“I’m glad I came back. It was awesome. Obviously disappointing, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I know this team, they’ll learn and grow and be better. There’s a lot to look forward to.”

Fisher, who resides in Nashville with his wife, country music star Carrie Underwood, didn’t rule out remaining with the Preds in some capacity.

Highlight of the Night: Big Buff doing Big Things early in the Western Conference Finals

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