Buchnevich’s hat-trick, Panarin’s three assists, Kochetkov’s score and Shesterkin’s 39 saves: the Russians became the stars of the day in the NHL

Buchnevich and Panarin triplets

One of the main heroes of the next game day in the NHL were two former Rangers teammates.

Four years ago, Pavel Buchnevich and Artemy Panarin crossed paths in New York and spent two good seasons together, after which they went their separate ways.

According to Pavel, the club’s management simply showed no interest in renewing the agreement with him, as a result of which he went to St. Louis.

And there he reached a qualitatively new level, starting to regularly score more than 60 points during the regular season.

And at times, even give impressive solo performances, as happened in the reported confrontation with the Islanders, another team from the Big Apple City.

Perhaps Buchnevich still has a grudge against New York, because in the current championship he is especially prepared for meetings with rivals from this city.

In January, he scored a goal and two assists in a 5-2 rout of the Rangers, and now he scored the same number of points against the Islanders.

True, this time he did not “bring in shells” and focused exclusively on finishing attacks, scoring his second hat-trick of the competitive year.

The first was recorded in November - then Colorado suffered at his hands.

This time, Buchnevich had less than 25 minutes of playing time to turn on the red light three times behind Semyon Varlamov’s goal.

Robert Thomas and Jordan Kairu contributed to the first two goals.

First, they organized a lightning-fast attack and found the Russian opening at the far post with a pass, and then brought him into a striking position.

Pavel did not spare his compatriot and hit him with a powerful throw right away, scoring twice in 25 seconds.

Buchnevich's third goal drew a line in the resulting one-sided confrontation.

By this point, St. Louis was leading 3-0, and the Islanders were desperate to reignite the suspense by bringing on an extra skater more than ten minutes before the final whistle.

But they paid for it.

The Russian received a pass from the same Thomas in the middle zone and hit the empty target, effectively throwing over the defender standing in the way - 4:0.

It’s a bit of a shame that even a natural hat-trick did not allow Pavel to become the main star of the match.

This title went to Jordan Binnington, who made 38 saves and kept his goal intact.

By the way, Buchnevich’s former teammate was not awarded the status of the best player of the meeting, although he also scored a triple, albeit an assist one.

And the parallels don’t end there.

Panarin also came to the fore midway through the second period and scored three times in less than 25 minutes as his Rangers defeated New Jersey by four goals (5:1).

The title of first star also went to the goalkeeper.

And even though Igor Shesterkin was unable to score his second shutout of the season, he looked impressive and recorded as many as 39 saves.

Moreover, it was the goalkeeper who helped Panarin score his first point in the meeting with the Devils.

Thanks to his pass across half the court, a quick transition from defense to attack was organized, ending with an accurate hit by Chris Kreider.

And after that, the combination of Artemy and Vincent Trocheck worked twice.

First, they took Alexi Lafreniere to a rendezvous with Niko Dawes, and then they did everything themselves.

The Russian broke through on the left side and found the American at the far post - all he had to do was not miss.

Panarin made three passes in a match for the second time this season and came out in fifth place in the scoring race with 78 (32 + 46) points, ahead of Auston Matthews and JT Miller (both 76).

But in the ranking of the stars of the meeting, the Russian missed out not only the magnificent Shestyorkin, but also Lafreniere.

True, I’m unlikely to be upset.

After all, Peter Laviolette's team won their ninth victory in a row and are one step away from repeating the club record.

Ten times in a row they prevailed only twice: in the 1939/40 and 1972/73 seasons.

Kochetkov's benefit performance and the battle between Kucherov and Ovechkin

The first and third places in the list of the main stars of the match were taken by the Russian hockey players of Carolina.

The match with Florida turned out to be extremely tense, and the opponents refused to capitulate until the last seconds of the final period.

And although the guests outscored the hosts by one and a half times (44:29), it was the Hurricanes who won the most important victory.

And all thanks to the magnificent Pyotr Kochetkov, who outplayed two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky in an absentee duel.

The Penza Diesel graduate produced his third shutout in the regular season and took fifth place in the league in terms of this indicator.

As a result, Kochetkov was recognized as the main hero of the confrontation, and below were the creators of the only goal against the Panthers, scored 19 seconds before the siren.

It all started with another brilliant save by the goalkeeper, which turned into a stunning counterattack, led by Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho.

But if the Russian’s shot was blocked, then they could no longer stop the Finn.

He left Bobrovsky out of work and brought Carolina a victory (1:0).

He also surpassed his partner in the rankings, although it was his power move that disabled Florida leader Matthew Tkachuk.

Nikita Kucherov was unable to save Tampa from a third defeat in a row, although he tried.

In the middle of the second period, the top scorer of the regular season, together with Brayden Point, started a spectacular three-way move that ended with a precise hit by Brandon Hagel.

Thanks to this, the hosts reduced the gap in the score to a minimum, and then, even though they conceded, they nevertheless restored the balance.

But they couldn’t crush Washington.

In the end, the capital upset Andrei Vasilevsky twice more - 5:3.

The highlight of the match was Connor McMichael's puck into an empty net, in which the Capitals' leader was involved.

Alexander Ovechkin received a pass near the boards, but did not become greedy and carefully rolled it towards his young partner.

The same one did not attack right away and got almost to the target before ruining the Lightning’s chances of a comeback.

Thus, while Kucherov reached 95 points (36 + 59) in the championship and did not allow Nathan MacKinnon (34 + 59), who upset Detroit, to get close to him, Ovechkin achieved a curious achievement.

After all, over the past ten years, not a single hockey player aged 38 years or older has managed to score points in ten matches in a row.

The last time Martin Saint-Louis achieved this level was in the 2013/14 season.

Other Russian NHL players also had a successful game day.

Evgeni Malkin assisted his partners in the second meeting in a row and helped Pittsburgh crush Montreal (4:1) on their ice, and Nashville defeated Los Angeles away with the same score.

It started with Yakov Trenin, who scored his ninth goal in the regular season.

Andrey Kuzmenko recovered from a couple of not very successful matches and had a hand in Calgary’s triumph.

And again, the leader of the league summary table played the role of the victim, because it was in the confrontation with Boston that the Russian made his debut for the new team.

But if then he scored himself, this time he assisted Oliver Chullington (3:2 OT).

Ivan Barbashev showed himself in the same way, however, this did not help his “Vegas”.

The current Stanley Cup champion lost to Toronto - 3:7.