The next game day of the NHL regular season turned out to be not the most eventful and included only four matches. At the same time, there were practically no iconic confrontations in it. Only a duel between two representatives of the "Original Six" - "Toronto Maple Leafs" and "New York Rangers" stood out against the general background. As a result, she fully met the expectations of the fans, and one of the main characters was Artemy Panarin and Igor Shesterkin.
It cannot be said that the game was perfect for the Russian Rangers forward. On the eve of her, Panarin managed to lose both link partners - Ryan Strowm got into the COVID protocol even before the meeting with Montreal and still had no opportunity to return to the ice, and already in its course Kaapo Kakko received damage to the upper body. As a result, Artemy ended up in the same three with Philip Khytil and Barkley Goodrow - a duet of strikers who have not yet scored points in the regular season.
Perhaps this was the reason for Panarin's not the brightest performance in the main time of the match with Toronto. In the first period, he came close to chasing an assist, but defender Nils Lundqvist hit the post after his splendid cross. Subsequently, however, the Russian practically disappeared from the radar, limiting himself to only two shots on goal by Jack Campbell. The goalkeeper confidently coped with the first, and the second turned out to be inaccurate.
But Panarin managed to distinguish himself with a minus sign. In the opening of the second period, he was not very active on the defensive and allowed the Maple Leafs to respond to the goal of Mika Zibanejad. The puck was twice in close proximity to the Russian, but in the first episode he could not prevent William Nylander from passing a pass to John Tavares, and then - Morgan Riley to bring Michael Bunting to the shot. The latter could only substitute the club and print the gate of Igor Shesterkin.
It was thanks to the selfless play of the Russian goalkeeper that the Rangers managed to make it to overtime. Only in regulation time, Shesterkin reflected 37 shots on his own goal, and subsequently added three more to them. At the same time, during the additional five minutes, he did a small miracle, not allowing the current owner of the Maurice Richard Trophy, Auston Matthews, to score a goal. First, Igor corrected himself for an unsuccessful removal and parried the "shot" from the blue line, and then took over the American in close combat.
And after that, the second highest paid hockey player in the NHL said his weighty word.
Panarin quickly played a spectacular combination with Zybanejad in the throw-in circle, after which he threw irresistibly into the far corner.
Artemy scored the first goal this season and scored in overtime for the eighth time in his career.
According to this indicator, he came out on the sixth, catching up with Alexey Kovalev, Valery Bure and Pavel Datsyuk.
Alexander Ovechkin is in the lead (24).
As a result, Panarin was recognized as the second star of the meeting, and the title of the first went to his compatriot.
Shesterkin earned praise not only from teammates, but also from opponents.
So, his performance was highly appreciated by his counterpart Campbell, but Rangers head coach Gerard Galland was especially generous in compliments.
“This victory is undoubtedly the merit of our goalkeeper.
He was incredible today.
He clearly stole those two points from his opponent.
Campbell was also very good.
We didn't have many moments.
But we had a few moments that could be called first-class.
And then Campbell was making good saves.
But our goalkeeper was great.
Rate his athleticism.
He is strong, gives all the best in the fight for every puck, "- quotes Gallan, the press service of the NHL.
A similar opinion was expressed by Zybanejad, who did not make it into the top three players of the match, despite a goal and an assist.
“I don't think we played well enough today.
And if not for Igor, I don't even want to imagine what would have happened.
But in the end, we took those two points and move on.
It was a good lesson for us, ”the Swedish striker admitted.
This success allowed the Rangers to score five points and catch up with the leaders of the Eastern Conference - Pittsburgh and Toronto. At the same time, in the West, the table was headed by "St. Louis", in which Russian legionnaires also rule the ball. This time, the Blues defeated Arizona away, and the domestic athletes chalked up four out of seven goals.
It is noteworthy that they accounted for both the first and the last abandoned washers of the guests that evening. First, the former teammate of Panarin and Shesterkin, Pavel Buchnevich, showed himself, later removed to the end of the match for a header. Already in the eighth minute, he, together with Jordan Kairou, fled into a counterattack and closed the transfer of his teammate. And the point was put by Ivan Barbashev, setting the final score - 7: 4. Moreover, Vladimir Tarasenko, who took part in the combination, also scored a point for performance.
However, a place in the top three stars went to another Russian striker.
In the middle of the second period, Klim Kostin became the author of the double, and it took him only 47 seconds.
In both cases, the hockey player was very good at finding free space at the opponent's goal, after which he made an irresistible throw.
First, he promptly rolled into the area of the throw-in circle, and then took a place on a nickle.
22-year-old Kostin scored in the overseas league only for the third time.
In the previous two seasons, he went out on the ice only six times in total and earned two points (1 + 1).
And he scored a goal in his debut meeting in a Blues sweater.
On November 23, 2019, he helped the squad avoid a crushing defeat to Nashville (2-4).