Zadina returned to the NHL after injury with the winning goal, Palát assisted on two goals

Detroit-Calgary NHL hockey game, Feb. 9, 2023. Detroit's Filip Zadina (front) receives congratulations from his teammates on his goal.

New York – After four years, Filip Zadina jumped into an NHL game and scored the first goal of the season in a 2:1 victory for the Detroit hockey players over Calgary. In the 46th minute, the Czech striker beat compatriot Daniel Vladař, with whom the Flames did not score in the goal for the first time since November 26. Ondřej Palát set up two goals for New Jersey, which defeated Seattle 3:1.

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Zadina has been out of Detroit since November 5, when he broke his leg while blocking a shot in a game against the New York Islanders. In the lineup, in which Dominik Kubalík was missing, he took a place in the fourth formation and played almost nine minutes. Even so, he became the first star of the match, exchanging the puck with Oskar Sundqvist in a two-on-one renumbering and finishing the action into the open goal.

“I feel very good. Even better, because I helped the team to victory. It's amazing,” gushed Zadina, who scored for the first time in his tenth start of the season. “It took a long time for me to recover. I'm glad that I finally made it. I went into the match with the idea to do what I have to do right and to try to create something,” he said.

He also praised Detroit coach Derek Lalonde. “Everyone is a professional in the league and tries to come back in good shape after injury. But Zadin took it to another level. He worked extremely, really extremely hard and it's great to be rewarded for his efforts,” said the coach.

Calgary outshot Detroit 36-17 and put their activity to good use in the 39th minute with a leadoff goal by Blake Coleman. Even before going to the cabins, however, Dylan Larkin equalized, who got behind the defense and beat Vladař with a shot over the catcher. The Czech goalkeeper caught 15 shots in the match and lost the opportunity to set a club record for the number of consecutive matches in which he led the team to at least a point. His streak stopped at number thirteen.

New Jersey was losing from the 35th minute with Adam Larsson throwing from the blue line, but they equalized in 24 seconds. Palat passed in a power play from the right side to Dougie Hamilton, who made a cannonball into the upper right corner of the goal. Both of them repeated their cooperation in the 50th minute in another numerical superiority and the goal was scored in a similar way.

“I saw how he was reaching, so I tried to pass the puck to him as best as possible. He has a great shot. I'm glad it fit him,” said Palat, who was named the third star of the match, about the match with Hamilton. Hamilton crossed the 50-point mark (15+36) in the 51st game of the season, no defenseman has reached this goal faster in the club's history.

John Marino sealed the win with Seattle playing without a goaltender. The Devils succeeded even without their most productive player, Jack Hughes, who will be out for several weeks. MacKenzie Blackwood, who caught 33 shots, was declared the best player of the match. Vítek Vaněček covered his back.

Florida beat San Jose 4:1 on their ice. The home team was losing from the sixth minute with a goal from Alexander Barabanov, but in the middle part they turned the game around with two goals from Sam Reinhart. Eric Staal secured the win with two shots into an empty net. Visiting striker Tomáš Hertl was on the ice for all four conceded goals. In the winner's jersey, Radko Gudas made seven saves, the most of all actors in the match.

Down 2-1 in the third period, San Jose missed a four-minute power play. “We played some good actions, got to some stops. We should have equalized,” Hertl regretted.

The rematch of the last NHL final ended in a clear affair, Tampa Bay blew Colorado 5-0 in the first match since last June . Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots and Brandon Hagel led the win with three points (2+1). On the side of the defeated defender of the Stanley Cup, Pavel Francouz remained on the bench.

Anthony Beauvillier scored Vancouver's game-winning goal in the 57th minute in a 6-5 win over the New York Islanders. The experienced striker made his mark against his former club who recently traded him. “At first I was breathing hard and it took a few minutes to calm down here. I even forgot a few times which switch I was supposed to go to,” said Beauvillier. The main architect of the Canucks' success was Elias Pettersson with three points (2+1).

Statistics of Thursday's NHL games:

Detroit – Calgary 2:1 (0:0, 1:1, 1:0)

Goals: 40. Larkin, 46. Zadina – 39. Coleman. Shots on goal: 17:36. Daniel Vladař caught 58:50 minutes for Calgary, scored two goals from 17 shots and had a success rate of 88.2 percent. Spectators: 19,515. Stars of the match: 1. Zadina, 2. Husso, 3. Larkin (all Detroit).