Columbus is called Russian for a reason. For the new season of the National Hockey League (NHL), the local Blue Jackets have gathered a sufficient number of hockey players from Russia on their roster for the domestic audience to pay attention to them. Naturally, the bosses and coaches of the “uniforms” were not guided by this, but there is an indisputable fact — Russian hockey fans began to watch Columbus games more often.
Our representatives of the Blue Jackets have so far justified such attention: forwards Dmitry Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov, as well as defenseman Ivan Provorov regularly score points, and Voronkov is trying to compete with the main rising world star Connor Bedard in the fight for the Calder Trophy «—a prize for the best rookie in the NHL. So far Bedard is playing more efficiently, but that’s not about that now.
Most recently, the entire Russian four of Columbus achieved a unique achievement. In the match against the Boston Bruins, each of the Russians scored a goal. Moreover, Voronkov, Provorov, Chinakhov and Marchenko did this one by one and in that order. Surprisingly, it turns out that never before in NHL history have four Russians from one team scored in one match. This agenda forced the “uniforms” coach Pascal Vincent to pay even more attention to his Russian players, some of whom at some times even thought about returning to Russia. What did the Columbus head coach come up with? He created a completely Russian troika: Chinakhov — Voronkov — Marchenko. And not just a Russian troika, but a Siberian one. This NHL season, Dmitry has not yet played as a center forward, which did not bother Vincent.
“»Once before, he already played in the center. He shows himself decently on face-offs. Dmitry is a very smart player. I think this (creation Russian troika) can work,” the Blue Jackets helmsman explained his decision.
In itself, the phenomenon of the creation of Russian triples in the NHL is no longer unique. During the entire period of Russian hockey players’ performances in the main league of the world, there were enough such combinations. Naturally, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is the legendary Detroit trio of Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Vyacheslav Kozlov. But that combination was never considered separately from the defensive line of Vyacheslav Fetisov and Vladimir Konstantinov. The Russian five of the Red Wings is so epochal that every Russian and the entire hockey world knows about it.
Russian troikas were also created in St. Louis. The Blues were generally the first to implement this idea, putting together a combination of Karamnov — Korolev — Prokhorov in the attack, even if it did not justify itself, and the “musicians” had somewhat different plans. In recent history, the Blues repeated the trick and, under the leadership of Craig Berube, a couple of years ago assembled Pavel Buchnevich, Ivan Barbashev and Vladimir Tarasenko in one unit. It was gaining points, but today of this trio only Buchnevich remained in St. Louis. In sections, the Florida Panthers and the San Jose Sharks also brought together Russian threes: the former connected the Bure brothers with Viktor Kozlov, the latter — Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov and Andrei Nazarov. But this was rather a rarity, just like the Morozov-Titov-Kovalev trio in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
As for Columbus's idea, the idea was decided to be tested in a game with the Ottawa Senators. And Pascal Vincent, apparently, can be pleased since his team achieved victory. Although the «uniforms» failed to start the match.» Already by the middle of the first half, the Blue Jackets were losing with a score of 0: 2. But by the break they managed to level the situation and win back both goals. First, the majority was converted by Patrik Laine, who was transferred to the nominal third line, and then Dmitry Voronkov also scored. Marchenko and Chinakhov were on the court at that moment, but did not score assists.
Although there were chances to score with three. Especially in the second period, when Chinakhov, Marchenko and Voronkov played a cool combination against someone else's goal. Only the Ottawa goalkeeper prevented it from ending with a goal.
It's funny, but the main characters of the evening were remembered not only for their gaming actions, but also for their fighting qualities. We are familiar with the character of Dmitry Voronkov, but the leader of the Senators, Brady Tkachuk, is not. Otherwise, the American would have been aware that the Russian forward would not put his fist in his pocket and would easily stand up for himself. In the third period, a skirmish arose between the players, which began with a small force move performed by Voronkov. As a result, the opponents exchanged pleasantries in their native languages.
Later, Voronkov uncovered his fists, but again, without fanaticism. The next incident began when German Senators forward Tim Stützle pushed Chinakhov, and the Russian responded by hitting his opponent in the legs with his stick. After this blow, two Ottawa players — Swede Erik Brännström and Canadian Travis Hamonic — attacked Yegor. Voronkov and Marchenko immediately stood up for their compatriot. Marchenko pulled Brennström away, and Voronkov almost got into a fight with Hamonic and another Canadian, Matthew Joseph, who ran into the already prone Voronkov, who had lost his helmet. As a result of the episode, only Yegor Chinakhov was punished, who received a minor fine for hitting him with a stick.
They made some noise, yes. Ivan Provorov did not remain silent either. It was his attack on the goal at the beginning of the second period that actually became the winner. The Russian defender did a great job at the blue line, pulled out an Ottawa player and saw the traffic in front of the opponent's goal in time. The puck was skillfully corrected by Adam Fantilli after his shot. Provorov already has 13 assists for his new club! Columbus bosses are clearly pleased with the summer trade with Philadelphia.
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