Panarin's record

The current NHL season is going very well for Artemi Panarin.

The Russian hockey player shows enviable performance and confidently leads the list of Rangers scorers.

And after the away meeting with Pittsburgh, in which the Russian replenished his piggy bank with five points at once, he returned to the top 5 contenders for the Art Ross Trophy.

The Penguins opened the scoring in the match in the 3rd minute, but the guests needed only 57 seconds to rectify the situation and even take the lead.

First, Kaapo Kakko scored, and then Panarin helped Adam Fox score.

Meanwhile, the hosts did not give up and restored the status quo, but here the Russian himself showed off his sniper abilities.

Vincent Trocheck made a spectacular pass, throwing the puck over a defender lying on the ice.

It was not so easy to hit the puck flying through the air, but Artemy coped with this task, leaving Tristan Jerry out of action.

After this goal, Panarin has 90 points in the current regular season.

He reached this mark for the fourth time in his career, three times in a row.

Previously, no Rangers player had achieved this in the entire history of the club, which dates back to 1926.

Fans of the team on social networks even stated that after the end of his career, the striker’s number should be retired.

So far, by the way, only two Russians have received such recognition in the NHL - Pavel Bure and Sergei Zubov.

But the forward did not stop at one goal and an assist in the reporting match.

At the end of the second period, he scored a double, rushing like a hawk onto the penny during a power play and sending the bouncing puck into the net.

And just a minute later he scored an assist on Mika Zibanejad's goal.

And at the beginning of the third game segment, Artemy scored his fifth point in the match, adding another assist to his credit.

This pass was the player's 500th in his NHL career.

Panarin needed 656 games to reach this milestone, third most in league history behind Connor McDavid (527) and Sidney Crosby (554).

Interestingly, over the past 20 years, only one undrafted hockey player has overcome this bar - Martin St. Louis.

The Russian was naturally recognized as the first star not only of the match, but of the entire game day in the NHL, but he himself stated that he did not attach importance to achievements and records.

“I don’t think about it, otherwise I’ll stop putting in the effort.

Maybe I'll think about these things after the season [ends].

But definitely not at the right time,” the Russian noted.

Ovechkin's winning goal

Alexander Ovechkin brought victory to Washington in an important match of the regular season with the leader of the Western Conference, Vancouver.

The capital's team retains real chances for the playoffs despite the lackluster autumn period, and the Capitals veteran himself looks much more confident in the second half of the season than at the beginning.

The match with the Canucks was not very spectacular.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 2nd minute, and after that they were not too eager to attack, being more cautious.

The guests were also not too active: in the first period, both teams made only six shots on target.

After the break, Washington came to life noticeably and restored parity six minutes later.

The first assist in the NHL was scored by the young Russian Ivan Miroshnichenko, who has recently received a chance to gain a foothold in the starting lineup.

The forward received a pass on the spot, fought with the defenders and managed to throw the puck further to Tom Wilson, who was unimpeded at the far post.

And less than two minutes later, in the same place, Vancouver’s defenders missed Ovechkin, who completed the combination started by compatriot Alexander Alekseev.

The spectators did not see any more goals in this meeting, and the captain of the Capitals thus chalked up the 127th winning goal in his career.

According to this indicator, he is second in league history, second only to Jaromir Jagr (135).

As for the great pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's record, Alexander is now 53 shots away from the legendary Canadian.

And Ovechkin needs only one goal to achieve his 19th consecutive season with at least 20 goals.

Kucherov's 40th goal

Nikita Kucherov extended his scoring streak to ten games and moved even closer to Nathan MacKinnon in the NHL scoring race.

The Tampa forward scored a goal and an assist in the meeting with Florida, and the Colorado forward scored only one point in the game with Edmonton.

Now the Russian has 114 points, two less than the leading Canadian.

The Lightning took their match right off the bat and scored the puck in the 21st second.

And by the end of the 27th minute the guests were leading 4:0.

Kucherov took part in the fourth goal, which was scored in the majority.

After that, the Panthers finally showed their teeth and sent three goals in a row into Andrei Vasilevskiy's goal.

At the same time, the Tampa goalkeeper managed to fend off 47 shots in 60 minutes, for which he was recognized as the second star of the match.

But his counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky, on the contrary, did not shine in this meeting, to put it mildly, and saved the team only in 11 cases out of 15.

And the final point was set by Kucherov, when Florida had already removed the goalkeeper and tried with all their might to score another puck to send the game into overtime.

After one of these attacks, the Lightning players threw the puck out of the zone, and Brandon Hagel rushed after it to the opposing goal.

There he struggled along the boards and managed to make a pass to the Russian who arrived in time.

His first throw was blocked by a defender, but Nikita did not stop fighting and, on the second attempt, still sent the projectile into an unprotected goal.

The goal was the striker's 40th in this regular season, and he already has three such seasons in total.

Only Steven Stamkos has more in Lightning history (6).

Kaprizova series

Kirill Kaprizov also continues his scoring streak, which now stands at seven games.

True, unlike Kucherov, the Minnesota striker did not have to celebrate the victory in the next regular season match.

His team lost to St. Louis on the road in a shootout.

The Russian did not convert his free throw towards the end of the match, however, if not for Kaprizov, the Wild would not have received even one point for a draw in regulation time.

By the beginning of the third period, the guests were losing 0:2, having only 14 shots on target in 40 minutes of playing time.

The most active among the Minnesota hockey players was the Russian striker, who attacked Jordan Binnington's possessions three times.

Kirill continued to push the team in the third segment, and finally, his efforts were crowned with success.

First, Kaprizov took advantage of the mistake of Karl Bolduc, who fell on the ice and lost the puck.

Kirill immediately picked it up and passed it to Marco Russia, who found himself one on one with the goalkeeper.

The debutant of the season was not taken aback and threw the projectile between the goalkeeper’s legs.

And four minutes before the end, Kaprizov scored himself, finishing in Mats Zucarello's cross at the far post.

This is the Russian's 35th goal this season.