Svechnikov’s second lacrosse goal and Malkin’s 400th goal: Russian hockey players continue to rewrite the history of the NHL

The second "Candlestick" in a month and a half

Forward “Carolina Hurricanes” Andrei Svechnikov again surprised the entire hockey world, scoring a puck in the style of Lacrosse in the NHL match. This time he excelled in an away game with the Winnipeg Jets. This goal helped the Russian team win 6–3.

Svechnikov decided to repeat his masterpiece in the 34th minute, when the game situation did not at all make it possible to perform such miracles on ice. At that moment, Carolina had just lost the lead in the account, having missed from Patrick Layne. A little more, and Winnipeg could well turn the tide of the match and win the sixth consecutive home win.

But everything changed the goal of Svechnikov. The Russian picked up the puck in a foreign zone near the side after the loss of Adam Lauri. The judges, as if anticipating what would happen next, did not whistle a violation of the rules for the hook of the Winnipeg striker, although the actions of Jordan Staal quite fit this definition. However, the moment was flirting, and Svechnikov moved outside the gates of the Canadian team.

The Russian had very little time to decide what to do next. Winnipeg goalkeeper Connor Hellenbike, who took fifth place in the league by the percentage of reflected shots in the league, was clearly ready for the lacrosse goal - he completely closed the right post, leaving almost no gap between the shoulder and the crossbar. But Svechnikov, having laid the puck on the stick’s hook, passed it under Hellenbike’s arm and brought his teams forward.

Immediately after the phenomenal goal, Carolina proposed from now on to officially name the lacrosse goals Svechnikov, since the 19-year-old Russian distinguished himself for the second time in the NHL for the second time, although no one in history had succeeded in this in the strongest league in the world. Svechnikov’s first successful attempt to throw the puck by putting it on a club’s hook occurred at the end of October.

Then he hit the Calgary Flames gate, dropping the puck over David Rittich’s shoulder. Then, by the way, Svechnikov had much more time to think things over and make a throw, compared with the situation in the match with Winnipeg.

IT IS OFFICIALLY THE SVECHNIKOV pic.twitter.com/ioUnAsYmsF

Until the end of the second period, Carolina scored two more goals, and the Winnipeg goalkeeper had to be sent to the bench. Unfortunately, the goal of Svechnikov in the end could not be called victorious - the Canadians were able to distinguish themselves one more time, but they still could not escape the defeat (3: 6).

After the match, Svechnikov promised reporters to continue in the same vein.

“I had a lot of space, and I just tried to put the puck into the goal as quickly as possible. I practice a lot of this technique. When I stop outside the gate and I have space, I always try to fulfill it. We’ll see if in the next game I’ll score it like that either, ”the NHL official quotes the Russian hockey player.

The head coach of Carolina Rod Brindamor hastened to assure that there was no luck in Svechnikov's goals, since the resultant actions of the Russian were months of training.

“You saw this trick for the first time in its execution about a month ago, but we have been watching for a year and a half how it fulfills it in training. So implementation was only a matter of time. When you work something out day after day, it’s not about luck. You can’t say that he was lucky, ”said Brindamor.

Goal Svechnikov impressed not only his teammates, but also rivals.

“There are no words to describe this guy. Very talented. He performs almost anything. He's doing great, and it shows. Such a goal is very rare, but he performed it as if there was nothing complicated about it, ”Staal admitted.

“Incredible. He already scored twice in this way, despite the fact that before this nobody could do it even once. Fantasy. Very impressive, ”admitted the Winnipeg forward Sebastian Aho.

Fourth place Malkin

In turn, Evgeni Malkin in an away match “Pittsburgh Penguins” with “Calgary Flames” was marked by two even more impressive achievements. He beat Alexei Kovalev in the list of the best Russian NHL scorers, rising to fourth place, and at the same time scored the 400th goal in his career.

Catching up with compatriot Malkin allowed the transfer, which became an assists thanks to the efforts of Brian Rast. “Pittsburgh” led 2-1 and could not develop an advantage for a long time. But such an unstable score ultimately played into the hands of Malkin - in “Calgary” they hoped until the very end to recover and at the end of the match they took off the goalkeeper. In the 59th minute, Rast gave the puck to the Russian, and he with the blue line just threw on an empty net. After a few seconds, Chris Lethang set the final score - 4: 1 in favor of Pittsburgh.

With his 400th goal, Evgeni Malkin joins Mario Lemieux (690), Sidney Crosby (451), and Jaromir Jagr (439) as the only players in franchise history to score 400.

Congratulations @ emalkin71geno! pic.twitter.com/DGO8HCnL8a

After this match, Malkin won 1031 points for his performance in the NHL regular championships. Of the Russians in the overseas league, Alexander Ovechkin, Sergey Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny recruited more. The Pittsburgh striker is only one point behind the latter, and in the near future it can be expected that Malkin will be one of the three best Russian hockey players. However, he did not spend 900 matches in the regular season, unlike all of the above players.

As for the abandoned washers, until last night, a beautiful number of 400 abandoned washers obeyed in the NHL only six Russians. Before Malkin, these were Ovechkin, Fedorov, Mogilny, Pavel Bure, Ilya Kovalchuk and Kovalev. In his club, the striker firmly settled in fourth place behind Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and Jaromir Jagr. Before the great Czech, Malkin lacked 39 goals.

“All three are real legends. To be in their company is something amazing. I also want to be a great hockey player and play at the highest level, and now I can do it. I hope to spend another five to six seasons in Pittsburgh, ”Malkin told reporters.

Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan was much more eloquent, paying tribute to his ward. At the same time, the mentor was not at all embarrassed by the fact that Malkin threw the puck into the empty net.

“400 goals is a lot for the NHL. This figure is a testament to what kind of player he is and what he has done during the time he spent at Penguins. Malkin remains one of the best players of his generation. And today's milestone is just becoming a new proof of how good it is, ”Sullivan said.