Russian forwards again in the first roles in the National Hockey League.

Kirill Kaprizov and Artemy Panarin are having their best seasons in the NHL and are close to breaking the 100-point milestone in their remaining regular season games.

In the night from Thursday to Friday, the Rangers striker made four assists and came out on the second place in the list of the best assistants of the season in the NHL.

The Minnesota leader has a goal and two assists in the confrontation with Vancouver, now he has 97 points on his account.

duet played

The regular season is coming to an end, and the fight for a place in the playoffs is becoming more and more fierce.

Minnesota has been doing real miracles this season, turning into a serious contender.

It is possible to achieve success, among other things, thanks to Kaprizov, who, as Wild head coach Dean Evason notes, knows how to turn the tide of the meeting with his actions if something goes against his team.

The last match was no exception.

The meeting with Vancouver was not so important from a tournament point of view for Evason's wards.

They've already made it to the playoffs, which can't be said for the Canucks.

The Canadians still have a chance of getting into the top eight in the West, but for this they need to bypass Dallas.

Therefore, in the confrontation with Minnesota, Bruce Boudreau's team was determined to take points and had a better first period than the opponent.

However, the account was never opened.

But in the second twenty minutes the team broke through.

The Wild took the lead twice, the Canucks managed to bounce back, and in the 37th minute, Elias Pettersson scored a double to put the Canadians ahead.

But the guests did not rejoice for long.

The “Minnesota” has finally woken up a shock bunch of Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.

As the Norwegian jokes, they act like one person on the ice, they understand each other so well.

Already two and a half minutes after the missed goal, the Russian assisted a teammate, and he from the left circle hit the gates of Thatcher Demko with his hands.

The last game segment was completely left to the owners of the ice.

Of course, not without the participation of Kaprizov.

First, Kevin Fiala led his team forward, and then the Russian scored.

Zuccarello wrestled at the boards and sent the puck to Ryan Hartman, who made the pass to Kaprizov, who was alone.

He did not miss and chalked up the 44th goal this season.

After another 42 seconds, the striker scored the third point in the match.

He provided an assist to Hartman, who hit an empty net.

The final score is 6:3.

Kaprizov has already scored 97 (44 + 53) points and is on the seventh line in the list of the best scorers of the current championship.

Minnesota has five more meetings ahead, and only three effective actions separate the hockey player from the 100 points mark.

The Russian also has one more motivation: if he set the club's record for goals for the season last week, then he fights with Zuccarello for the title of best assistant.

Both have already surpassed striker Pierre-Marc Bouchard in the 2007/08 season (50 assists in 81 matches).

wolf grip

The season is no less successful for Artemy Panarin.

The Rangers forward broke his personal record for the number of assists in the regular season at the beginning of April, and now he is determined to conquer club achievements.

On the eve of the confrontation with the Islanders, the Russian was asked in training if he would like to rest in the remaining five meetings in order to save strength for the playoffs.

The attacker laughed it off: “I don’t think about it, I’m a wolf.”

The journalists liked the image so much that after the game with the "islanders" they suggested changing the nickname to the Russian.

First of all, Panarin's bright match pushed them to this.

Wards of Gerard Gallan scored a great move, winning seven of the last eight meetings.

And it looks like the team is not going to slow down at the end of the regular season. 

Intrigue in the confrontation with the Islanders did not work.

Everything, in fact, was decided in the first period - Andrew Kopp scored a hat-trick, and each time Artemy assisted him.

And the most spectacular was the first transfer in the fourth minute of the meeting.

The Russian ran away from his rivals on the left side and unexpectedly, from a very uncomfortable position for himself, gave a pass back to the American, who was alone in front of the goalkeeper and easily outplayed him.

At the end of the second period, the Russian also helped Ryan Strome to score, and he himself chalked up the 96th (22 + 74) point this season, setting his new scorer record in the NHL.

The previous best result was shown in the incomplete championship-2019/20, when in 69 games the striker reached the mark of 95 (32 + 63) points.

Until the coveted hundred Artemy left to complete four effective actions in four matches.

The task is more difficult than that of Kaprizov, but also quite feasible.

In the list of the best scorers of the season, he is on the eighth line, after Kirill.

And among the assistants, the Russian confidently takes the second position.

Florida Flames' Jonathan Huberdeau is ahead with 83 assists.

In the history of the club Panarin came third in the number of assists in one season, beating Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Brian Leach.

They managed to assist only 72 times in one regular season.

The record belongs to Brian Leach (80) and Sergey Zubov (77) is second.

The meeting with the Islanders eventually ended with a score of 6: 3 in favor of the Rangers, who won the fourth victory in a row.

And after the match, banners of Panarin appeared on social networks in the company of a pack of wolves.

However, the opinions of the fans differed.

Many people still like the nickname Khlebushek more.