When it comes to the New York Rangers this season, Artemi Panarin has done it all for them.
For starters, he has had no trouble finding the back of the net. Panarin, 32, currently (As of Thursday, February 29) leads the team with 35 goals, which is a career-high for him.
Speaking of putting the puck in the net, he has also come through in the clutch for this hockey club. He is tied for third on the team with four game-winning goals.
Panarin has also been the team’s best playmaker this season. He currently leads the club with 47 assists, as he knows how to find the open man, has unbelievable vision, and can make a lot of things happen when he has the puck on his stick.
Of course, with those numbers mentioned above, he also currently leads the team in scoring with 82 points. That point total has him fifth in the league in scoring this season.
As you can tell, Panarin has easily been the team’s best player this season. He produces, he plays a lot of minutes, head coach Peter Laviolette sometimes double shifts him because of how Panarin can impact the game, and he is someone who is always a threat to score whenever he is on the ice.
While being one of the best players in the league in the regular season is no small feat, it is how one player does in the Stanley Cup playoffs that truly means something. This is not to say that what Panarin has done so far this season is not magnificent.
Rather, all of the things he has accomplished in the regular season needs to be used in the postseason. In his three postseason experiences with the Blueshirts, Panarin has not been himself.
For starters, his production is not where it should be. Panarin has 20 points in 30 games on seven goals and 13 assists.
After leading the team in scoring in the regular season last year, Panarin was quiet in the team’s seven-game series loss to the New Jersey Devils in the first round. He had just two points and was a +/- – 2.
Secondly, his play on the other side of the puck is another area where he has struggled in the playoffs while on the Rangers. He is a combined +/- -10 in three postseasons with the club.
Lastly, he seems to be shy about shooting the puck when it matters most. While 75 shots in 30 playoff games with the Rangers is not terrible, a player with his shot, accuracy, and deceptiveness should be firing on all cylinders.
If the Blueshirts want to have success in this year’s playoffs, Panarin needs to carry over everything he has done in the regular season into the postseason. The team will need his goal scoring, playmaking, and point-producing self to be there in order to get this team to the next level when it matters most.
Something tells me that this will be the year that Panarin flips the script and does everything he can to lead the Rangers to hockey’s Holy Grail.
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