For Rangers fans, the match against the Islanders was the most anticipated event in the end of the regular season. The Blueshirts lost in the last two matches to their principal rival and were eager to rehabilitate themselves. Sure, Rangers fans could taunt Islanders fans about not making the playoffs, but a derby victory wasn’t enough to satisfy them.

The Blueshirts justified their hopes and outplayed their neighbors, and the main hero of the meeting was Artemy Panarin, who designed the assistant poker. The Russian gave out some chic passes, set a new personal performance record in his career, and even surpassed Wayne Gretzky himself.

Just an incredible game of the Russian hockey player!

Panarin “special player”

It’s funny that in his overseas career, Panarin scored his debut goal and scored the first hat-trick against the Rangers. Now the Russian himself writes the history of the New York team and has long become an integral part of it. Journalists have already dubbed Panarin the best Russian Rangers player in history.

Such recognition is well deserved – the Russian spends his third season with the Rangers and has shown a high level throughout the entire time. In the 2019/20 season, he was even nominated for the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the most valuable player in the regular season.

Impressed by the skill of Panarin and the head coach of the “Rangers” Gerard Gallan. He is a strict systemist and prefers simple vertical hockey. However, the specialist made an exception for the Russian, giving the striker absolute freedom of action.

– I like the way he plays. When the matches are really tense, he helps his partners in defense, always returns to his zone and works out in defense. I think he’s a damn good player. Panarin plays differently than everyone else, but that’s what makes him special,” said Gerard Gallant.

Although Panarin scores points like a robot, he does it very elegantly and beautifully. In the memory of Russian fans there is an expression “fetisovsky pass”, meaning a perfect pass to the attacker under the blue line. Now, in the lexicon of hockey fans, you can add the “Panarin pass” – a transfer to a partner on an empty net. In the match against the Islanders, the Russian showed that he perfectly masters this technique.

Panarin surpassed Gretzky’s achievement

Panarin demonstrated his dispatching talent already in the first period. The Russian went deep into the zone at speed, and when the rivals froze in anticipation of action from the striker, Artemy gave a pass from the uncomfortable side of the stick to Andrew Kopp, who completed the attack with a goal.

And after a few minutes, Panarin again delighted the fans with a brilliant transfer. The Russian showed with all his appearance that he was going to make a throw, but at the last moment he made a pass to the same Kopp. The American could only not miss the empty net.

Panarin did not stop there and at the end of the period he again helped Kopp score the puck and score a hat-trick. Now the Rangers hockey players will ask the coach to put them on a link with the Russian in order to improve their statistics.

Photo: © REUTERS / Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports

In the second 20-minute period, the Islanders tried to get back into the game and even managed to win back one goal already at the start of the period. But the Rangers hockey players quickly suppressed the opponent’s impulse, responding with the implementation of the majority. And after that, the chief dispatcher of the Blueshirts, Panarin, once again pleased his teammates with an excellent pass and designed assistant poker.

Now the Russian has 96 (22+74) points after 73 games. The Rangers have four more games in hand, so Panarin is capable of hitting 100 points in a season. And his assistant poker in the match allowed the forward to bypass Wayne Gretzky himself in the list of the best Rangers assistants in one season. Now Panarin is the third in the history of the franchise in this indicator. Only Sergey Zubov (77 assists) and Brian Leach (80) are ahead.

In the third period, Panarin stopped scoring and gave other Rangers players the opportunity to take part in goal attacks. It turned out badly without the Russian in the attack – the Blueshirts lost the final 20 minutes.

As a result, the Rangers defeated the Islanders in the derby – 6:3, and Panarin again gave a great match, extending the scoring streak to four matches. The forward’s form before the playoffs cannot but please the fans of the Blueshirts, because the entire attack of the team rests on it. In the meantime, the time for knockout games has not come, Panarin can reach the mark of 100 points, which, most likely, will be done.

NHL. Regular season

New York Islanders (New York) – New York Rangers (New York) – 3:6 (0:3, 1:2, 2:1)

Goals: Nelson, 20:37, 42:06 (bol.). Bailey, 53:22. — Kopp, 3:43, 7:48, 18:13. Kreider, 37:15 (bol.). Strome, 39:07. Reeves, 52:53.