Artemi Panarin is having a great season in the National Hockey League. No, not even just great. Phenomenal! After the failure last spring, many expected response actions from the Russian super forward that would rehabilitate him. But the leader of the New York Rangers exceeded all expectations. And we are only happy about this!
From the very start of the championship, Khlebushek began to tear up the league and lift his team to a leading position, simultaneously gaining points in every match. The Russian set a crazy pace – even higher than that of his compatriot from the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nikita Kucherov. Yes, Kuch is more productive, but he holds the title of top scorer in the current NHL season due to his extremely high performance in specific games. Panarin performs more consistently. Of all 23 regular-season matches in which Artemy has already played, the Russian forward was not effective in only four. Moreover, Khlebushek went on a crazy streak of 15 matches with points scored in a row from the very beginning of the championship – no hockey player from Russia in the entire history of the NHL has managed this.
Today Panarin surpassed himself and scored 4 for the first time this season points per match. Three of them are goals.
The Rangers hosted the worst club of the season, the San Jose Sharks, at the legendary Madison Square Garden. Despite the fact that the Blue Shirts occupy first place both in the East and in the league's overall standings, the match with the Sharks was not at all easy for them. Already in the first period, “San Jose” forced the “Rangers” to come back twice, and at the end of the meeting, they pretty much frayed the nerves of the fans from New York, almost depriving them of the victory. By the way, Alexander Barabanov played a significant role in this. The Russian forward of the “sharks” scored a goal in his first match after more than a month, which he needed to recover from injury.
But Panarin did everything to bring the Blueshirts their 18th victory of the season and maintain their lead in the table. It was his two goals in the first period that allowed the Rangers to win back, first from 0:1, and then from 1:2. And at the beginning of the third period, it seemed that he had put an end to it, forcing the fans to fill the court with their hats.
This hat-trick became Artemy’s fifth in his career in the NHL championships and the third for the Rangers. It's funny that all five matches in which Panarin scored three goals were not without the participation of the Blue Shirts. Back in February 2016, when the Russian played for the Chicago Blackhawks, he made a three-pointer against his current club, and in March 2018 he repeated this as part of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Subsequently, Artemy scored hat-tricks only for the club from New York. Moreover, “San Jose” is suffering from the actions of a Russian for the second time: the first time this happened was in December 2019. Panarin’s last hat-trick before today’s match happened in February of this year in a game with the Carolina Hurricanes. True, then the Russian gave even more fire and scored four goals.
Today Khlebushek limited himself to three goals, but still scored the fourth point. It was victorious for the Rangers. Artemy did everything beautifully: he fought back, kept the puck in the opponent's zone and continued the attack, which was completed by K'Andre Miller with an accurate throw. The Russian is tied with Patrick Kane and Steven Stamkos for the most games with four or more assists in an NHL career (all 19).
Taking into account Panarin’s current performance, everything is heading towards the fact that Artemy will finally reach the 100 points mark for the season and even overcome it. But if you also pay attention to the excellent results of the Rangers, then the Russian can aim for the Hart Trophy – the prize for the most valuable player of the NHL regular season. This, by the way, is not an exaggeration. Most recently, the league published a preliminary list of the main contenders for the valuable award, which is awarded based on the results of a vote by the NHL Writers Association, and Panarin took first place in this ranking. It is clear that the regular season has just begun, and everything will change, but we will not ignore the mentioned fact.
In addition, the Hart Trophy for Panarin is a situation close to reality. The prize is awarded to the hockey player who made the greatest contribution to the success of his team in the championship. And what do we see? The Rangers are the sole leaders in the NHL right now, and Panarin is superior to his teammates in all key indicators. After 23 matches, Artemy:
- Rangers best sniper (15 goals);
- Rangers' best assist (20 assists);
- Rangers' top scorer (35).
And he doesn't intend to stop!
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