Dubly Barbasheva and Anisimova, Svechnikov's record and the unsuccessful series of Kovalchuk: how the Russians spent the game day in the NHL

The first double of Barbashev of the season

February in the NHL was unsuccessful not only for Alexander Ovechkin, but also for the entire St. Louis team. The current Stanley Cup holder gave an extremely inexpressive segment and lost in five meetings in a row, thereby making it extremely difficult for himself to fight for the Presidential Cup. Craig Beryube's wards were able to interrupt the protracted series of setbacks in a confrontation with the New Jersey, which has recently alternated victories with defeats. The main character of the match was Ivan Barbashev, who made the first double of the season.

The account was opened only at the 30th minute of the meeting. A massive attack "Blues" ended on a nickle, where a fatal mistake made Damon Severson. Defender Devils waved past the puck, and Barbashev took his chance. The Russian “shot” Louis Dominga and brought the owners ahead.

The fans had to wait 16 minutes for the next goal, but in execution it was radically different from the previous one. Barbashev and Samuel Blay for two organized a counterattack, which they themselves completed. Hockey players exchanged a couple of passes, after which Ivan was in a shock position and doubled the advantage of the hosts.

In the 2018/19 season, Barbashev was only twice distinguished by more than one accurate throw per game. In March, he upset Detroit three times, and in February, New Jersey also became his “victim”. Then he scored two goals and once acted as an assistant, and “St. Louis” won a crushing victory with a score of 8: 3. This time everything turned out to be noticeably more modest, and the final result on the scoreboard was set by Jaden Schwartz - 3: 0.

In general, this season is very likely to be the most successful in Barbashev’s overseas career. At the moment, the assets of the forward of the fourth link “Blues” are nine goals and 15 assists in 58 matches. At the moment, his best result in his career remains 26 (14 + 12) points last season. However, then to achieve this level he needed to go on the ice in 80 games.

Successes of Anisimov and Namestnikov

Unlike the meeting in St. Louis, the battle in Ottawa turned out to be much more productive. “Senators” and “Sabers” scored 11 goals for two, and the Canadian club won - 7: 4. In this game, the Russians also became one of the main characters. Ottawa forward Artyom Anisimov also scored the first double of the season and was recognized as the second star of the match, and his teammate Vladislav Namestnikov scored one accurate throw.

And this despite the fact that the debut of the match turned out to be discouraging for the hosts. Already in the 11th minute they lost 0: 2, but they gave the shock segment and scored four times in 209 seconds before the end of the period. The start of the Ottawa comeback was made by the Viceroys, who was noted for an accurate cast in the minority. Hockey players "Buffalo" yawned a counterattack of the owners, and Vladislav designed the 13th puck of the season. In this he was assisted by goalkeeper guests Carter Hatton, who was unable to properly close the shields.

After that the time came for Anisimov. With a break for the accurate throw of Drake Buterson, he twice left the opponent's goalkeeper out of work. First, he spectacularly rolled out from behind the gate and hit the far corner, and then with a wrist throw he completed a sweeping attack involving Tyler Ennis and Mike Reilly.

Nevertheless, while Anisimov is unlikely to bring this season into his asset. He missed about 20 matches due to injury, and in the remaining 42 did not always look convincing. As a result, 13 goals and only four productive passes with a utility score of “-14”.

Reaching Svechnikov

Unlike Anisimov, Andrei Svechnikov’s career is only gaining momentum. Young striker Carolina confidently surpassed its last year's performance indicators and is clearly not going to stop. In a duel with Nashville (4: 1), he hit the gate for the 24th time of the season and repeated one of the club’s records.

This time, the Russian scored in unequal compositions, taking advantage of the transfer from behind the gate performed by Justin Williams. Svechnikov received the puck in the right circle of the face-off and threw it into the far corner with a filigree throw. As it turned out, it was this goal that turned out to be victorious, even though subsequently Nino Niederreiter and Sebastian Aho increased the advantage of the guests.

Thus, Svechnikov chalked up 55 (24 + 31) points this season and continues to fight for the title of Hurricanes top scorer. At the moment, he takes third place in this indicator and is second only to Teivo Teravainen (56) and all the same Aho (57). At the same time, Andrei became only the second player under the age of 20 in the history of the team, who managed to excel twice in the season in at least eight meetings in a row. The last time this happened to Ron Francis in the 1982/83 season.

Kovalchuk's problems and Malkin's disease

More than impressively debuting as a member of the Canadiens, Ilya Kovalchuk made many seriously think about his successful performance in a Canadian club or even a possible exchange for a challenging team for the Stanley Cup. But a month after moving to Montreal, the Russian game showed a serious decline, and the team itself is unlikely to be able to compete for being among the 16 strongest. Claude Julien’s wards lost in five games in a row, and in the last they were completely offended by the Detroit’s main outsider.

The meeting ended with a score of 4: 3 in favor of the “Red Wings”, and this despite the fact that in its course the Canadiens fought twice with a difference of two goals. As for Kovalchuk, for the fifth time in a row he left the ice without accumulating points in the asset, and was also on the court in an episode with two goals conceded. At the moment, the Canadian team takes 13th place in the standings of the Eastern Conference and is ten points behind the eighth “Columbus”.

Unlike Montreal, Pittsburgh extended the successful series to three meetings and came in third in the East. On their ice, “Penguins” defeated the “Toronto” with a score of 5: 2, and Sidney Crosby scored a goal and three assists. Even the absence of Evgeni Malkin, who missed the match due to illness, did not prevent the five-time Stanley Cup winner.

The Russian even went to the warm-up, but in the course of it it became clear that this time he would not be able to help the team. At the same time last morning, Malkin trained in full volume and was determined to return to the ice. Now he is waiting for a day of rest, after which he will have another chance to come face to face with opponents from Toronto. Pittsburgh will leave for Canada on Friday, after which the Penguins are waiting for a meeting with Buffalo and Washington.