Bread is at the head of everything
“Bread Trick” is the title of the official NHL website. Khlebushek is the nickname of Artemy Panarin, the hat trick is a trick with a hat that he achieved in the match against San Jose. Yes, the opponent is a desperate outsider who occupies the last place in the championship. But the Sharks suddenly showed their teeth and made it three wins in four matches. These guys aren’t as simple as they seem!
It was San Jose who opened the scoring in the fourth minute, when Anthony Duclair ran one-on-one and beat goalkeeper Jonathan Quick. But then the Rangers got the power play and Mika Zibanejad passed his back to Panarin. What did Artemy do? He moved from left to center, then took a long-range wrist shot, so much so that the puck hit the goal from the post.
Without waiting for the break, Panarin scored a double by showing speed to place himself in front of the Sharks goalkeeper in the slot. The puck came to him, the rest was a question of technique.
It was an even-strength goal, with Panarin playing in his usual line with Alexi Lafrenière and center Vincent Trocheck. This line lasted 13.25 minutes together at 5v5 and proved to be very effective based on advanced stats.
Rangers claim 3,000th victory
After two periods, the Rangers held a precarious advantage (4:3), but in the 45th minute Panarin added a dusty bag of intrigue to the match when he found himself in the backfield again and played a clever final move. Like that! Khlebushek scored two goals, finding himself in the same “stove”, where not all attackers will climb, because they hit hard there. But Artemy turns out to be a diligent and goal-oriented attacker.
And then the caps flew onto the ice. This is the fifth hat-trick of Panarin’s career. The last time he was this different in the regular season was Feb. 11, when he even discovered poker during an away game against Carolina in Raleigh.
What if we rewind again? Panarin scored his previous hat-trick on December 12, 2019, during his visit to San Jose. But it was at a party. And so that all of New York and packed Madison Square Garden could see it?
This is how Panarin put on his first major show on Broadway. Keep in mind that Artemy delivered an assist, ultimately scoring 4 (3+1) points.
“We have depth on our team. We look very good now. I hope we can play like this all year,” Panarin said.
By the way, another anniversary took place that evening: the New York Rangers reached the mark of 3,000 victories in their history. But this club was founded in 1926 and was part of the Original Six.
The Rangers became the fifth team to reach 3,000 wins in NHL history, after the Montreal Canadiens (3,536), Boston Bruins (3,373), Toronto Maple Leafs (3,116) and the Detroit Red Wings (3,069).
I wish I could see the trio between Panarin and Kucherov again!
It is worth noting regarding San Jose that after a broken finger, Alexander Barabanov, with whom Panarin still played at SKA, returned to the visiting team. Moreover, the forward not only went on the ice, but also scored a goal when he received a pass to the left post and spectacularly hit the goal by going down on his knees. In the 56th minute, the Sharks reduced the score to the minimum (5:6), but failed to withdraw from this match.
“I thought we were ready to play from the start,” said San Jose head coach David Quinn, himself a former Rangers coach. “The way we held on for 60 minutes says a lot about our team.” It’s a shame because we had the impression of having given our opponents some gifts in the third period. But our mental strength and determination certainly inspire optimism.
But this evening, we almost only talked about Panarin.
“He’s a superstar,” Zibanejad said. “Sometimes he just stays quiet, but he does everything on the pitch when there’s just no need for words. I couldn’t be happier that Artemy is playing on our team.
After this extravaganza, Panarin took fourth place in the list of NHL top scorers (15+20=35), behind only Vancouver’s JT Miller (13+23=36), David Pastrnak (14+22=36) from “Boston” and Nikita Kucherov (15+25=40) from “Tampa”.
Do you remember how Panarin’s father-in-law, head coach of the Russian national team Oleg Znarok, built a team at the World Championships in Cologne in 2017, where Panarin and Kucherov played, and the center between them was Evgeny Kuznetsov? It was just an explosive triple and Panarin became the top scorer of that tournament, in which Russia won bronze.
I would of course like to see these guys on the same team again. The perfect opportunity is the World Cup, where the Russian team could one day make it. Well, or the 2026 Olympics in Italy. Why not? We can dream.
PS At the end of the report, it’s time to add something important. Because New York and the packed Madison Square Garden have already seen Panarin’s hat trick. This happened on March 20, 2018. And then Artemy also scored 4 (3+1) points. But Khlebushek played… for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and he scored a hat-trick just against the Rangers.
And I’ll tell you more! On February 17, 2016, Panarin also scored a hat-trick in New York on the ice of a packed Madison Square Garden. But then he played for the Chicago Blackhawks! Can you imagine?
I am sure that it is an absolute and unique record to achieve a hat-trick with three different clubs on the ice of the same arena. But it’s Khlebushek! He always has the habit of surprising us.
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
