Artemy Panarin is a special hockey player. People like him can be counted on one hand all over the world. The way Khlebushek sees, feels and even draws the game on the ice rink sets the Russian apart from dozens of other skilled top-class players.
The Russian striker of the New York Rangers burst into the new season of the National Hockey League, as they say, right off the bat. From the very first match of the regular season, Artemy began to do what all the fans of one of the richest clubs on the planet expect from him. And most importantly, Panarin has been stable throughout the regular season and holds the championship without obvious “drawdowns.” Everything is heading towards the fact that the Russian will finally achieve one of the main achievements in his career. Never before has Artemy scored 100 points in a season: neither in the KHL, nor in the NHL. Now there is very little left to reach the cherished mark, namely seven points.
At the moment, the Russian has 93 points. Artemy reached and overcame the mark of 90 points or more for the fourth time in his NHL career and the third in a row. He spent all four seasons with 90 points in one regular season with the Rangers. No one has had so many such successful seasons in the history of the club. This record is assigned to Panarin.
In today's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Khlebushek demonstrated a real master class and took a huge step towards a historic hundred. In one match, Panarin scored five points! Artemy scored such results for the fifth time in his career. Among all Russian hockey players in history, only Evgeni Malkin (8), Alexander Mogilny (7) and Nikita Kucherov (6) had more matches with five points per game. The same Alexander Ovechkin, who set a lot of different records, scored five points in only four games.
Panarin scored a bright “five” in the match with Pittsburgh thanks to two goals and three assists. The assist hat-trick brought Artemy another historic achievement — 500 career passes in the NHL championships. Khlebushek became only the tenth Russian hockey player in the entire history of the league who managed to reach this mark. Previously, this barrier was conquered by Evgeny Malkin, Sergey Fedorov, Alexander Ovechkin, Sergey Zubov, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexey Kovalev, Sergey Gonchar, Alexander Mogilny and Nikita Kucherov. Great company.
The Rangers still have 15 matches left until the end of the regular season. The club continues to fight for victory in the Eastern Conference, has practically secured first place in the Metropolitan Division and can well afford to take care of minor problems on the way to the playoffs. For example, to bring Panarin to that very hundred points. According to the current schedule, the Russian will overcome this mark with a large margin and will make a serious bid to win the Hart Trophy nomination. Artemy deserves to be recognized as the most valuable player of the regular season no less than Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov and Auston Matthews.