Ice hockey: Oilers lose opener against Canucks – Draisaitl injured
The Edmonton Oilers around national ice hockey player Leon Draisaitl lost the start of the NHL playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks. The Cologne player prepared the first two goals in the 4:5 win on Wednesday evening. In the second third, Draisaitl was missing for several minutes and was not on the bench. There was initially no information about the reasons.
After his return, Draisaitl seemed inhibited and was unable to prevent the Canucks’ comeback, who were temporarily down 4-1. The hosts scored the goals to make it 3:4, 4:4 and 5:4 in the final third within 4:48 minutes.
Draisaitl’s teammate Zach Hyman scored twice and has already scored nine goals in the current playoffs. To advance to the Western Conference final series, a team needs four wins.
In the Eastern Conference, the Florida Panthers returned with a clear win against the Boston Bruins. The team won 6:1, two days after the 1:5 at the start of the series.
Basketball: Knicks also win game two in NBA playoffs against Pacers
Thanks to hard work from Isaiah Hartenstein and another strong performance from Jalen Brunson, the New York Knicks also won game two in the NBA playoff series against the Indiana Pacers. Hartenstein recorded a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds in 39 minutes of play in the 130:121 win on Wednesday evening. There were also eight assists for the basketball player from Lower Saxony, who now needs two more wins with the Knicks to reach the final series of the Eastern Conference. Hartenstein had to play for so long because substitute Mitchell Robinson was injured.
Although Brunson missed a fifth game in a row with at least 40 points and finished the game with 29 points, he still led his team in the decisive phases. He caused great enthusiasm when he returned for the second half after missing the entire second quarter due to an injury. The Knicks were ten points behind at halftime. “He is a great leader. The boys all respect it when a guy is willing to give everything he has. That says a lot about him,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Tyrese Haliburton had the best performance for the Pacers and scored 34 points. Games three and four of the series will be played in Indiana on Friday and Sunday.
Basketball: Jokic is MVP in the NBA for the third time
Serbian basketball professional Nikola Jokic from the Denver Nuggets has been named the NBA’s most valuable player for the third time in four years. He beat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the Oklahoma City Thunder (640 points) and Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks (566) in the vote with 926 points, the league announced on Wednesday. Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game in the main round. He had already been voted MVP in 2021 and 2022. Last season, the award went to Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Jokic still has a chance to defend his title with the Nuggets. In the playoffs, however, the team is 0-2 behind against the Minnesota Timberwolves after two games and now has to play away from home twice.
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