Kirill Marchenko scored his second hat in his NHL career -trick, Nikita Kucherov surpassed the achievement of Alexei Yashin, Kirill Kaprizov returns to his level, and Artemy Panarin does not allow himself to be overtaken by Connor McDavid. About the intense and very productive game day of the National Hockey League – in the Sports review.
Second season in NHL career – second hat-trickDespite the fact that the Columbus Blue Jackets do not pretend to be anything for another season, this year the “uniforms” give a lot of reasons to talk about themselves. And not all of them are bad. While the Ohio club is languishing at the bottom of the standings and essentially going through a period of laying the foundation for fighting for something serious in the future, the team's players have the opportunity to develop and progress, and the newcomers have the opportunity to adapt to the NHL conditions. This season for Columbus, this approach is most relevant for the Russians, of whom there are already five in the Blue Jackets base.
NHL debutant Dmitry Voronkov is getting used to his new surroundings, Yegor Chinakhov is trying to catch up, and Kirill Marchenko is step by step approaching the status of a league star. Marchi played his first games in the main league of the world just a year ago, but he is already shining on the pages of the Russian and North American media, actively communicates in English and is on the list of club leaders in points. Right now Kirill has 21 points. According to the goal+pass system, the Russian is in second place in Columbus and is ahead of even the club's main millionaires Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine.
Today, Marchenko again took a leading role, scoring a hat-trick in the match with Buffalo. It must be said that the teams, in principle, did not skimp on goals and staged a real extravaganza, scoring 13 goals between them. Nine of them are on Columbus's account. This season, the Blue Jackets taught everyone that they could squander even a 3-4 goal advantage, but this time they acted for sure and by the middle of the match they created a six-goal handicap for themselves: having conceded in the 30th second of the match, the “uniforms” “They scored 7 goals in a row in response. Marchenko met this segment. Kirill opened the scoring with his own goals at the end of the first period, and then fired twice more in a row at the beginning of the second. 487 seconds of playing time – that’s exactly how much it took the Russian to score his second hat-trick of his NHL career. This is the second result in the club's history. Marchi's first goal added brightness to this event: the forward performed a real masterpiece, beating the goalkeeper with an underfoot throw.
“I trained this movement for three weeks. I just went out to an empty goal and tried to throw from under my feet. I was waiting for the moment to score like that during the match,” admitted Marchenko, who was recognized as the best player of the match in the victorious locker room.< br>
Kucherov entered the top ten best Russians in history Nikita Kucherov is rightfully the main star of the NHL this season. The Russian surpasses all the best players in the world and confidently leads the list of regular season scorers, not giving his competitors a chance to overtake him. He is still the only one to reach the 50-point mark in the championship. In the match with the St. Louis Blues, Kuch scored another point and helped his team achieve a big victory.
By the end of the first period, the Lightning had achieved a comfortable advantage in the score, but Nikita only increased it. Before the break, the Russian scored a goal, and almost immediately after entering the second 20 minutes he scored a double. The Tampa star is doing everything to win his first Maurice Richard Trophy along with the Art Ross Trophy, as well as finally reach the 50-goal mark for the season – Kucherov is already halfway there.
In the meantime, Nikita has achieved another significant achievement. The Tampa forward overtook Alexei Yashin and took clear tenth place in the list of top scorers in NHL history among Russians. Now Kucherov has 783 points in 676 games. In the foreseeable future, he will also take the ninth line of the ranking, which currently belongs to Sergei Gonchar (811 points in 1301 matches).
Is Kaprizov coming back? This season it’s customary to talk a lot about Alexander Ovechkin and his statistics, which are still surprising with their modest numbers. But Kirill Kaprizov is also in some kind of crisis. At first, the less than stellar performance of the Minnesota Wild leader did not surprise anyone. Kaprizov traditionally does not score many points at the start of the championship, but after some time he begins to tear and throw. However, this season the not-so-best period for the Russian dragged on somewhat. Yes, he scores points relatively regularly, but the team expects more from its most expensive player. Even the club's management openly expressed concern about the performance of their main star.
With the change of head coach in Minnesota, Kaprizov's affairs are gradually changing for the better. Perhaps a good impression of the Russian is formed primarily because of the Wild’s results, which have improved noticeably since Dean Evason’s departure. But Kirill also puts great effort into such important victories.
Today, it was the Russian striker who helped Minnesota defeat the powerful Boston Bruins, one of the leaders in the NHL. Yes, the Bears are also not performing as confidently as last season, but they still remain a formidable opponent for all teams in the league. The Bruins were close to leaving the “savages” with nothing on their court, but in the end they were content with only one point. Kaprizov not only saved his team from defeat in regular time, but also brought it victory in overtime, scoring his first double of the season and setting a new club record for the number of goals in extra time (7).
Panarin is the most stable player in the NHL, Nichushkin is underrated. This season, many of the loudest epithets have been said about Artemy Panarin. And each of them is deserved. From the very start of the championship, the New York Rangers forward set the bar very high and still holds it. Today's Panarin is no longer the player whose performance on the court depends on his mood and other third-party factors. Artemy is one of the most stable hockey players in the league. If not the most stable. Out of 30 championship matches, the Russian was not effective in only five games. Largely thanks to him, the Rangers are also consistently among the leaders in the regular season. Khlebushek is still the best scorer, sniper and assistant of his team. His chances of winning the Hart Trophy are becoming greater every week.
In the match against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Panarin scored his next goal. It was his 17th of the season and essentially doomed the Leafs to defeat.
But if even the lazy one speaks about Panarin in a positive way, then Valery Nichushkin does not receive enough compliments. And he deserves them too. The Russian forward for the Colorado Avalanche went through a difficult period, which unexpectedly began for him in the spring. It seemed that the situation with the incomprehensible scandal would have a negative impact on Val’s career, and to some extent, things turned out exactly like that: in the first 11 matches of the championship, the Avalanche forward had only one goal.
But through work and diligence, Nichushkin achieved the same thing that Panarin is now rich in – stability. Perhaps in the entire league today you cannot find the most dangerous player on someone else’s dime than Valery. This is a big problem for Colorado's opponents. It would seem that there is nothing tricky in the “thrust-substitution” scheme, but so far the Avalanche’s opponents have not really succeeded in disrupting the operation of this mechanism. Nichushkin, coming to someone else’s quarter, continues to churn out goals one after another. Yes, they don’t always bring victories. Today, for example, Valery’s double was not enough for Colorado to beat the Chicago Blackhawks. But Nichushkin himself has already reached the mark of 15 goals and is the third best Russian sniper of the season. Only Kucherov and Panarin are ahead.
All NHL game day results:
- “Buffalo Sabers” – “Columbus Blue” Jackets” – 4:9
- “Boston Bruins” – “Minnesota Wild” – 3:4 OT
- “Carolina Hurricanes – Vegas Golden Knights – 6:3
- New Jersey Devils – Philadelphia Flyers – 2:3 OT
- “Tampa Bay Lightning” – “St. Louis Blues” – 6:1
- “Toronto Maple Leafs” – “New York Rangers” – 2:5
- “New York Islanders” – “Edmonton Oilers” – 3:1
- “Nashville Predators” – Vancouver Canucks – 2:5
- Chicago Blackhawks – Colorado Avalanche – 3:2
- Arizona Coyotes – Ottawa Senators – 4:3
- San Jose Sharks – Los Angeles Kings – 1:4
Recent Comments