Mikheev's assistant hat-trick, Sorokin's anniversary match and Shesterkin's beautiful rescue: how the Russians showed themselves in the NHL

Ilya Mikheev rarely becomes the hero of RT texts about the performances of Russians in the NHL.

However, the striker's game in December cannot be ignored.

In the summer, his contract with Toronto ended, and he signed an agreement with Vancouver.

Now the athlete is gradually becoming the leader of the Canucks.

If we take the current month, a native of Omsk scored a double in the confrontation with Montreal, was recognized as its second star and helped to win the most important strong-willed victory in overtime - 7:6.

He then upset San Jose in another successful match - 6:5 OT.

And in the last meetings of the outgoing year, Mikheev scored a terrific move.

He excelled in three of them, and his team climbed to the tenth position in the Western Conference, very close to the playoff zone.

The second match with San Jose was especially successful, in which he set two achievements at once: for the first time in his career in the NHL, he scored four points and scored an assistant hat-trick.

On this day, only one of the top scorers Bo Horvath (2 + 2) managed to catch up with the domestic athlete from the partners.

But among his teammates there were no equals in terms of utility (+ 5).

Not surprisingly, he was involved in almost all the Canucks pucks.

Actually, it was the Russian who helped Horvat open an account in the fifth minute.

In the course of a quick attack after a pass from the starboard side, he could distinguish himself on his own, but his throw at the last moment managed to cover the defender.

However, the striker instantly orientated himself in the situation and immediately pushed the puck to the free Bo, who did not miss his chance.

And at the beginning of the second 20-minute period, Mikheev scored the most important goal.

And it is gratifying that compatriot Andrei Kuzmenko helped him to excel.

After his transfer, Ilya had only not to miss.

"Vancouver" led with a score of 3:1 and did not miss his own.

The Russian himself took part in Quinn Hughes' masterpiece in less than two minutes.

Having received a discount from a teammate, the American made a beautiful raid on someone else's zone, beat two opponents and delivered a powerful click just above the goalkeeper's shoulder.

Finally, in the end, the striker helped to put an end to the confrontation with Brock Bözer - 6:2.

So Vancouver achieved a major success, and Mikheev himself took sixth place in the team scorers race (12 + 10).

Only Elias Pettersson (42), Horvath (39), Kuzmenko (30), JT Miller (30) and Hughes (29) are ahead of him.

However, if Ilya continues in the same spirit in 2023, then he may well break his own record of performance in the NHL regular season (21 + 11), set in the previous season.

An excellent move scored and "Washington".

After the Christmas break, he won the fifth victory in a row and strengthened in the playoff zone.

Moreover, they managed to defeat the direct competitor of the New York Rangers on the road - 4: 0.

It was possible to do this even without the direct participation of Alexander Ovechkin, after taking second place in the list of the best league snipers in history, he seemed to take a break.

That evening, the veteran scored only one shot on target and did not score a single point.

But Evgeny Kuznetsov helped open an account for the Capitals.

In the opening, they had no right not to realize a double majority.

Igor Shesterkin coped with the shot of his compatriot, but could not do anything with the finishing move from Markus Johansson.

By the way, the ex-hockey player of Traktor knocked out 13 points in December (2 + 11).

As for the Russian goalkeeper, despite the expense, it is impossible to make a claim against him.

Igor worked miracles at the last frontier and repelled 26 shots.

If not for him, the hosts could miss a lot more.

What is worth at least a stunning save in the second period, which can be safely recognized as one of the most beautiful moments of the day.

Johansson, after an excellent pass partner was in a lethal position on the penny and struck a click for sure in an empty near corner.

However, Shesterkin managed to move instantly and caught the puck right on the “ribbon” in a twine with a trap.

Sometimes he was lucky, because opponents hit the racks several times.

Including in the starting segment, young Alexander Alekseev missed a great chance to score his debut goal in the NHL.

But Eric Gustafsson and Lars Eller, shortly before the second break, took advantage of their chances and actually put an end to the confrontation.

And shortly before the final siren, Conor Shiri struck an already empty target.

The Rangers, although they earned ten minutes of the majority, did not manage to print Darcy Kemper.

Unfortunately, this did not work out for Vitaly Kravtsov either.

Gerard Gallan trusted the Russian and unexpectedly transferred him from the fourth link to the first to Artemy Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, but he was remembered only by a controversial episode.

In one of the moments, Dmitry Orlov, in his zone at the starboard side, completed the passage of a compatriot with a rough power move.

In fact, he grabbed him by the throat and threw him onto the ice.

But the judges did not see a foul in the defender's actions.

Well, Kravtsov, fortunately, did without another injury.

In addition to Shesterkin, another reliable match was played by another domestic goalkeeper, Ilya Sorokin.

On the one hand, the New York Islanders, whose colors are defended by the hockey player, had an overwhelming advantage over Pittsburgh and made twice as many shots.

Evgeni Malkin turned out to be absolutely invisible, having spent less than 15 minutes on the ice and earned a utility indicator of 2.

On the other hand, the goalkeeper, who held the 100th anniversary meeting in the NHL, acted calmly and accurately and rescued partners at the right moments, having recorded 20 saves in his asset.

Only Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who equalized the score, managed to break through it.

However, the hosts responded to his puck with three unanswered goals in the second period and one in the final.

Anders Lee and Matthew Barzal scored a double.

And Alexander Romanov gave the 11th effective pass this season.

Sorokin, on the other hand, was noted for an important statistical achievement.

Having won 51 wins in the first hundred matches for the team, he took fifth place in this indicator.

Only Yaroslav Galak, Roland Melanson (58 each), as well as Thomas Greiss and Glenn Rösch (53 each) had more than him in this segment.

But the Russian was ahead of Evgeny Nabokov and Chris Osgood (48 each).

It is also gratifying that Ilya is in seventh position among goalkeepers in the current NHL draw in terms of the average number of reflected shots (92.6%), Of his compatriots, only Pyotr Kochetkov from Carolina (93.0%) is ahead of him, occupying the fourth line.

However, he played almost twice as many games.