There’s a difficult and doubtlessly ugly story brewing within the hockey universe that crosses traces of sports activities and politics, of freedom and dictatorships. And Artemi Panarin is squarely within the eye of the storm. We’ll get to that, however on the ice, Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury padded his Vezina Trophy speak with one other spectacular efficiency on Monday night time simply as Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry is rounding into form.
We’ll begin with the Penguins and Fleury earlier than the wickedly advanced Panarin story.
Vegas Hockey Now: Marc-Andre Fleury lowered his GAA (1.55) and his save share (.943) along with his second shutout in per week with a 3-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Listed here are some highlights, together with Fleury’s diving cease and the total story. Fleury has earned more Vezina talk.
A 1.55 objectives in opposition to common. Unbelievable.
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry has a .937 save share in his final three video games. And what are the variations between enjoying with Kris Letang on the highest pair or Cody Ceci on the third pair? Marcus Pettersson broke down the differences.
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Right here is the Jared McCann and Brian Dumoulin Penguins injury update.
Artemi Panarin
So, right here’s the quick story: A Russian coach and apparently political wanna-be political made worldwide waves by accusing New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin of beating up an 18-year-old lady in 2011.
Ordinarily, Panarin would instantly be in sizzling water. Nonetheless, that’s solely the primary layer of the onion.
The general public accusation comes on the heels of Panarin backing Vladimir Putin’s chief critic and opponent. Doing that normally earns dire penalties. Panarin made a daring social media submit on Jan. 21, which supported Putin’s opponent.
Oh, by the best way, the Russian Olympic staff choice is developing, too.
And…does anybody belief Russia? From poisoning Putin opponents to disinformation campaigns in U.S. politics to the discredited Steele File, which sparked a partisan brawl within the U.S. for 2 years, Russia behaves as if the nation is managed by a KGB intelligence officer…and it’s (Apologies to my youthful readers who don’t bear in mind simply how harmful and evil the KGB and the Soviet Union really have been).
NY Put up: Larry Brooks dismantled the Artemi Panarin situation.
Panarin has stepped away not out of disgrace however as a result of the state of affairs and fears for his security have rattled him. The allegations are at present unsubstantiated, nor has an accuser come ahead.
NHL Commerce Speak
The final one out of Buffalo, flip off the lights. On Monday, we detailed the rising Jack Eichel concern. Now, there’s extra NHL commerce speak about Eric Staal, too.
TVA: If / when he turns into accessible, the Montreal Canadiens should go after Eric Staal.
Stick faucet to our man Lyle Richardson of Spector’s Hockey for locating that one.
Nationwide Hockey Now
Florida Hockey Now: The Florida Panthers fired 51 photographs at Dallas. They zipped 29 shots in the second period en path to a comfortable win.
NYI Hockey Now: Dangerous information for the Penguins. New York is successful once more. Mathew Barzal was the turning point in the Islanders’ win over Buffalo.
Philly Hockey Now: Carter Hart was uncharacteristically dangerous in Lake Tahoe. Ryan Gilbert hits the Flyers film room.
San Jose Hockey Now: The Minnesota Wild pasted the San Jose Sharks. And it wasn’t that shut.
The Boston Bruins had method an excessive amount of enjoyable in Lake Tahoe. Really, Gritty and the Bruins had enjoyable, however David Pastrnak stole the show.
Tomorrow, extra Marc-Andre Fleury…
