2024-03-23 23:09:00
Last Thursday night, the New York Rangers defeated the leaders Boston, refuting the idea that their club has great difficulty playing against the favorites. And this despite the fact that the Rangers’ record is 11 wins in 20 matches against the other nine teams from the top 10 of the league.
Like the 5-2 win over Boston, none of this would have been possible without Artemy Panarina. The Russian Rangers forward is having a great last stretch and, according to fans from New York, the local press and the Blueshirts coaching staff, Khlebushek should be the main contender for the Hart Trophy.
“My job is just to say his name when the lineup is announced,” the head coach said with a laugh. Peter Laviolette after Panarin recorded his third hat trick of the season on Thursday, giving him his 97th point.
“He constantly finds himself in the offensive zone. Sometimes the more he plays, the better he gets. So you just have to try to find some ice time for him. He really stepped up at the most important moment,” the coach added.
In particular, this season, Panarin not only turned out to be the forward of one of the most lethal trios in the NHL, but also became the one who set some kind of records in almost every match. The 32-year-old hockey player became the first Rangers player since Jaromira Yagra, who scored over 40 goals and made over 50 assists in one season. He is also only the fifth undrafted outfield player in the last three decades to score 40 goals in a season.
The hat trick against the Bruins was Panarin’s last match against top teams this regular season. Before that, he scored the decisive goal against Colorado, with Cale Makar hanging on his shoulders, and scored a hat-trick against Tampa. To qualify for the Hart Trophy, a hockey player must, according to the official description, be the most valuable player of his team, and here Artemy has no competitors.
He played an important role in the progress Alexis Lafrenia. The Blueshirts’ power play would not have ranked sixth in the NHL without fourth Panarin, who scored 36 points on an extra play. In addition, his ease, humor and calm demeanor have a constant impact on Rangers.
“He has reached a new level in terms of performance. Everyone knows how good of a passer he is. He will find guys where you didn’t even think possible. He’s throwing a lot more this season. It really pays off. He has a great shot, so why not use it?”, this is how center Mika Zibanejad explained the abundance of goals from Khlebushka.
Of course, in the fight for Hart, Artemy has very strong competitors – Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews.
But it’s worth thinking about this: Panarin doesn’t have Braden Point, who scored 40 goals and helped Kucherov score points. He doesn’t have superman teammates who would score 90 points, like McDavid, Matthews and MacKinnon have. The next highest scoring player on the Rangers roster is his teammate Vincent Trocheckwho has 31 points less than Panarin.
We’re talking about this season’s MVP award, but Panarin has been the Rangers’ most valuable outfield player since his first season in New York. That’s why the Rangers’ recovery took several years to accelerate. This is why the Rangers can keep up with the elite teams and claim great things.
“Everything is very simple. Without Panarin, the Rangers would not be where they are today. And they won’t get where they want to go. For this they need Artemy,” summed up the New York Post columnist Molly Walker.
More materials about Artemi Panarin and the Rangers:
1711245175
#heart #America #drowns #Panarin #Russian #Rangers #MVP #award #season #York