The National Hockey League (NHL) dedicated another weekend to significant events. One of them took place today in Pittsburgh, where the attention of the entire hockey world was drawn. The local Penguins did what should have been done earlier — they honored the great and unique Jaromir Jagr. The famous Czech recently turned 52 years old, and he is still an active hockey player and plays for his native Kladno. Yardo gave more than ten years of his rich career to Pittsburgh alone and forever inscribed his name in the history of both the club and the entire NHL.
In honor of Jagr, the “penguins” retired his 68th jersey number and also raised a banner with the Czech’s name under the arches of the home arena. The ceremony took place before the match with the Los Angeles Kings, and Jaromir took part in it, as they say, to the fullest: the day before, the famous hockey player held an open training session with Pittsburgh, and today he took part in the warm-up immediately before the game. All Pens hockey players wore jerseys with Jagr's name and number, and some (for example, Evgeni Malkin) even wore a wig with the famous Czech hairstyle.
In terms of all values and ratings, it was, if not impossible, then incredibly difficult to surpass or at least compare with the festive events in Pennsylvania. But in the state of New Jersey, an attempt was made. The NHL held regular matches outdoors in a large arena. This time, the scene was the 82,000-seat MetLife Stadium in the suburbs of New York, where the National Football League (NFL) clubs New York Giants and New York Jets play their home games. Yesterday in this arena the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers (6:3) had a head-to-head meeting, and today the Islanders and Rangers met in the New York derby.
A spectacular show was expected from their principled confrontation in front of 80 thousand spectators. His teams provided not only in full, but even in excess. The battle between the Blue Shirts and the Islanders had everything: great hockey, fights, a large number of goals and a dramatic outcome. Islanders fans, however, were unlikely to be happy with the latter.
Patrick Roy's team was leading 4:1 by the beginning of the second period, and 5:3 in the decisive period of the match. The game was under the control of the «islands», who had a significant advantage in the face-offs won and created many problems for the opponent. Including personnel: Russian Isles defender Alexander Romanov shot powerfully in the last derby, first taking Ryan Lindgren out of the game, then scoring against Igor Shesterkin, and subsequently fighting with Vincent Trocheck.
But the Islanders also caused problems for themselves. Instead of calmly bringing the matter to victory, the “islanders” at the end of regulation time brought themselves two unnecessary removals and paid for it, allowing the “Rangers” to win back and send the game into overtime.
And here Artemy Panarin came to the fore. The Russian Rangers striker was on the front pages of the media even on the eve of the match. On a happy occasion, a second son was born into the family of Artemy and his wife Alisa. For this reason, by the way, Khlebushek missed the recent NHL All-Star Game. Panarin devoted his precious time free from hockey to being close to his wife, who in the fall of 2022 gave him a son named Luka, and now a second boy.
The Rangers star celebrated such a significant event as it should. Even during regulation time of the match with the Islanders, Artemy scored two assists. Both — after aimed shots at the Khlebushka goal. So targeted that the puck, after the Russian’s shots, definitely hit the sticks of first Trocheck and then Chris Kreider, and from them it already jumped into the net.
Panarin's focus on the opponent's goal and desire to score a goal were fully justified in overtime. It only took ten seconds for Artemy to achieve what he wanted. Moreover, the goal from the Rangers star ten turned out to be both fateful and funny. The Islanders won a faceoff at center ice early in overtime and began preparing a positional attack. However, the Islanders underestimated the level of pressure performed by Panarin, who robbed Canadian defender Noah Dobson, outplayed Ilya Sorokin and went to celebrate the victory. Dobson tried to correct his mistake by diving under the puck, but only moved the net. The judges, after watching a video replay of the moment, without any doubt recognized the goal as good.
Thanks to this puck, Artemy Panarin repeated his personal sniper record for the number of goals in one NHL regular season. Now the Russian has 32 goals. There are still two months left until the end of the championship, during which time Khlebushek will definitely surpass his record and even increase it. But Artemy is the happiest person right now. A victory in the derby, a memorable goal and a new addition to the family is a great end to another week for the Russian super-scorer.
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