Malkin's hat-trick from assists, Nichushkin's four points and Kucherov and Buchnevich's doubles: how the Russians "lit up" in the NHL

The amazing rescue of the Malkin team

The match with Columbus did not seem to be fraught with serious difficulties for Pittsburgh.

If the Penguins are fighting hard to get into the playoffs, then the Blue Jackets close the standings in the Eastern Conference.

In addition, they have not beaten an opponent in official meetings since November 2019, having suffered seven defeats in a row since then.

The more unexpected was the failed debut of Mike Sullivan's wards at home.

Already in the starting half of the first period, they managed to miss three times.

The guests first realized the majority, and then twice fled to the counterattack.

The team's situation became completely hopeless when Liam Foody immediately after the break brought the score to 0:4.

The hosts even had to replace the goalkeeper.

But, finding themselves in an almost hopeless situation, Pittsburgh performed a miracle.

And it is gratifying that Evgeni Malkin made a great contribution to the rescue.

It was after his pass from behind the gate that Jason Zucker closed the gap.

And at the beginning of the final stretch, the Penguins swept away the opponent, scoring three times in less than four minutes.

The Russian again helped Zucker score by fighting for the puck behind the net.

In regular time, it was not possible to put the squeeze on the outsider, but in overtime the favorite achieved his goal, putting an end to unequal lineups.

Sidney Crosby after the transfer of Malkin throw from the right circle did not leave a chance to Michael Hutchinson.

For the first time since 2006, the team from Pittsburgh walked away from defeat in a confrontation in which they were inferior by four goals.

Then he beat Washington in a shootout, and Crosby and Malkin scored two points each.

In the 2022/23 season, Yevgeny has 66 (23 + 43) points for performance and in the team scorer race he is second behind a long-term partner (28 + 48).

Uniform defeat from Nichushkin

It is rare when two Russians manage to complete an assistant hat-trick in one game day at once, but today it happened.

Malkin's achievement was repeated by Valery Nichushkin.

Moreover, the Avalanche forward gave an even more productive game, because, in addition, he scored on his own.

Colorado, unlike Pittsburgh, did not experience any problems in the match with one of the outsiders of the Western Conference San Jose, sending six unanswered goals into the opponent's goal.

Nichushkin took part in four of them.

First, during the scoring combination, he won the fight at the board and completed an accurate pass to his partner.

Then, with a tricky pass, he cut off two opponents and helped Nathan McKinnon score.

At the beginning of the second period, the striker himself hit the gates of the guests, competently substituting a stick on a penny under the throw of Cale Makar.

The last goal also did not go without him: the hockey player fought for the puck outside the gate and threw Makar into the gap.

We can only be happy for Valery.

After recovering from his injuries, he quickly became one of the leaders of the Avalanche.

Forward in eight meetings in a row does not leave the ice without points (4 + 9), and in these games the team won six victories.

Now he has equaled his personal best, hitting four points in an NHL game for the first time in nearly a decade.

It’s even hard to imagine that until recently the fans were discussing the forward’s “dry” streak.

Now they just have to enjoy the next "dry" match performed by Alexander Georgiev.

Although the goalkeeper did not have too much work - he reflected only 13 shots.

But this was enough to hold the fourth meeting to zero this season.

According to this indicator, he is second only to Ilya Sorokin and Darcy Kemper.

Stunning saves by Vasilevsky and Bobrovsky

Domestic hockey players also performed superbly in the Tampa Bay-Philadelphia match.

It was thanks to the excellent game of Andrey Vasilevsky, Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev that the Lightning managed to break a series of five defeats in a row - 5:2.

Although the meeting started badly for the hosts.

Already in the sixth minute, Morgan Frost put the Flyers ahead.

But the hosts immediately earned the first majority and leveled the score.

Kucherov and Sergachev lulled the vigilance of their opponents with their perepasovka in a foreign zone, and then Nikita performed a magnificent backache for a nickel to Alex Killorn.

Immediately after the break, the Russian duo built another goal.

After passing his compatriot Kucherov with a powerful shot from an average distance, Carter Hart did not have a chance.

Finally, the striker put an end to the end of the match, running away to a rendezvous with the goalkeeper and beautifully outplaying him.

Kucherov scored the third double in the current NHL regular season draw, overcame the 90-point mark for the third time, and also extended his home scoring streak to 22 meetings.

The best result for this indicator belongs to Wayne Gretzky, who in the 1988/89 season did not leave the ice without points in 40 consecutive matches at home.

It is also necessary to note Vasilevsky, who made 33 saves.

In the first periods, Andrei did not have too much work, and in the episodes with the opponent's goals, he did not have a chance to help out his partners.

But in the final segment, he made a number of memorable rescues and did not allow the guests to return to the game.

Another Russian goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky also had a great match.

His solid performance at the last frontier allowed Florida, who were fighting for a ticket to the playoffs, to win a crucial victory over the leaders of the Western Conference Vegas - 2: 1.

A native of Novokuznetsk parried 31 throws and absolutely deservedly was recognized as the second star of the match.

It was possible to upset him only in unequal compositions.

In addition, Sergei for the tenth time in his career reached the mark of 20 wins in a season in the NHL.

In total, he has 101 wins with the Panthers.

According to this indicator, Bobrovsky shares the third line with Tomas Vokoun.

Only John Vanbiesbrook (106) and Roberto Luongo (230) are ahead of them.

Beautiful goals of Buchnevich

The Russians performed well even in those matches in which their teams lost.

For example, “St. Louis” was defeated on the road by “Arizona”, suffered the eighth defeat in the last nine games and utterly complicated his life in the fight for a ticket to the playoffs.

At the same time, the team was frankly not accompanied by luck.

The opponent scored six times with 27 shots on target, while the guests scored only twice with 42 attempts.

It started out great for the Blues.

Already in the third minute Pavel Buchnevich opened the scoring.

Having received a great cutting pass from Justin Faulk, he was directly in front of the goalkeeper and sent the puck into the near nine.

But besides him, none of the partners managed to distinguish themselves that evening.

But the domestic hockey player in the third period reduced the gap to a minimum and scored the second double of the season.

This time, in the right circle, he beautifully left the opponent and delivered an accurate throw into the near nine.

Two points were scored by the young defender of the New York Islanders Alexander Romanov.

He recorded assists in his asset and along the way overcame the mark of 20 (2 + 18) points in the regular season.

And his team won a major victory over a direct competitor in the fight for places in the playoffs - "Buffalo" (3:2).