Regs wins his series 2-0 against the NHL esports G.O.A.T Eki
Game 1:
A quick three-on-two rush early in the first got Regs on the board with Erik Karlsson, but Eki quickly responded to tie things up with a “Polgz” like goal.
Both players traded long possessions in the offensive zone in the second frame before Regs scored a seeing-eye point shot from Jake Bean to take the 2-1 lead. Then, Regs takes advantage of some open space off the rush and scores a beauty one-handed tuck with Rasmus Sandin to give himself a two-goal lead.
Period three saw vintage Eki score after some beautiful quick passing and burying it with Matthew Tkachuk to make it a one-goal game. After a flurry of chances by Regs, which Eki’s goalie Thatcher Demko denied, Eki had a glorious chance with 30 seconds left in the period but rang his shot off the post. Regs takes game one 3-2.
Game 2:
Three minutes into game two, Eki creates a turnover in the offensive zone with his best player Nathan MacKinnon, and feeds it over to Vincent Trocheck who buries it on the backhand. Regs responded later in the first with a goal out of the corner with William Nylander. Regs scored with 11 seconds left with a backdoor play, celebrating with a “It’s too easy” call.
Regs scores with Timo Meier early in the second to give himself a two-goal lead and then makes an unreal spin move with Matt Duchene with a beautiful goal, going up 4-1. Eki needed a reset. He called a timeout, which clearly worked as he quickly responded with two goals himself, making it a 4-3 game with plenty of time left. Regs got one back later in the second regaining his two-goal lead.
Regs headed into the third period with a 5-3 lead, a win and he advances to the World Championship Finals. Regs scored on the powerplay off a lucky bounce and Eki now needed a big push. However, Regs stepped up his defense and pulled out the game two victory by a score of 6-3. He wins the series and knocks out a former World Champion in Eki.
“That win meant a lot, Eki is the NHL G.O.A.T. He has a World Championship and I don’t. His accolades speak for themselves and he’s such a great role model for the game, I got so much respect for him.” Regs mentioned to Anna Dua after the win.
“Same words to Regs, I value him the highest out of the North American region and I knew it was going to be a tough semifinal matchup. Defensively I couldn’t find the answers to his plays” Eki said after his disappointing elimination. He takes home $5,000 for finishing in third place.
When asked what it was about Regs' playstyle that made it tough against him, Eki responded, "I felt like offensively I could hang in there, just defensively that was the difference. I feel like he's a more versatile defender and I had to work a lot more for more scoring chances than he had to."
"He's really good at attacking against me, even in our practice games I was struggling with the same things, actually the semifinals looked exactly like our practice games."
Eki has teased that this may be his last time competing, we asked him if the outcome from today impacts his desire to play or not next year, "No, I don't think the result here would've really been a factor. Yeah, we have a baby on the way so where I want to spend my time in the future is the main thing."
Does Eki want change in the NHL esports circuit? "I feel like the promotion of the tournament can be a lot better, previews and interviews with the players. And then from EA SPORTS' stance, the tournament needs to be promoted to the players in the actual game."
We asked him if he had a prediction for the finals, "I've played everybody around 10 times, I would be shocked if Regs doesn't win."
Bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site for full coverage of the NHL 24 World Championship