The Blue Jackets brought Artemi Panarin into the fold to inject more skill into the forward group and boost their power play. He wasted no time on the former, and a quarter of the way through the season, he finally achieved the latter.
It was a ridiculous goal and an electric moment in Nationwide Arena – the kind of moment that littered Panarin’s highlight reel from Chicago – that the Jackets expected when they gave up Brandon Saad to acquire Panarin.
Got the puck in space. Closed in on Henrik Lundqvist. Wound up. Shot the puck so hard that he fell down, and with so much zip that he saw it go in before he hit the ice. That’s one hell of a highlight.
He nearly got an empty-netter to seal it, too. His teammates clearly appreciated his effort, as Panarin was rewarded with the Kepi after the game – a prize he accepted with a wide smile – having finally thrown the power play monkey off his back.
"I just wish he would have scored that empty-netter so I could have got on the score sheet,” joked Cam Atkinson after the game. "I told him, against this team, we need you tonight, and he stepped up big."
Panarin has absolutely feasted on the Rangers this season. In three games against the Blueshirts, Panarin has three goals, all against Lundqvist. In his other 17 games, he has just one goal. He hasn’t been the power play dynamo or unstoppable sniper that the Jackets expected – not yet, anyway – but those power play struggles have been a team-wide problem. He’s still been a joy to watch, and an elite player.
The Russian winger leads the Jackets in assists (10) and points (14), while sporting a shooting percentage that’s nearly nine points below his career average (6.8% this year, 15.3% career), that’s clearly due to rebound. And those are just the traditional stats – his underlying numbers indicate that he's due to score a few more.
His current 5-on-5 CF% is an impressive 57.35% – nearly three full points higher than his previous career high (54.68%), set last year. He’s seeing a higher percentage of defensive zone starts this year than ever before. Excluding neutral zone face-offs, his offensive zone start rate is 63.4%, a seemingly high number until you see the rates in his Chicago years: 75.37% two years ago and 80.55% (!) last year.
In simpler terms, Panarin is playing better than he ever has and taking on expanded defensive responsibilities, and is thriving in his new home. Plus, he leads the team in Social Media Dogs/60 (step aside, Cam Atkinson), an irreplaceable metric.
Помогаем друг другу развиваться . Какие #собаки нравятся вам? Helping each other to improve our skills What kind of dogs do you like? pic.twitter.com/a7GoWRHDcu
— Artemi Panarin (@9Artemi) October 22, 2017
Team Halloween Party with extremely famous dog. pic.twitter.com/zTGb9cs7ra
— Artemi Panarin (@9Artemi) November 1, 2017
Perhaps the power play drought was a bit of a blessing in disguise for Panarin and Jackets fans. Some snipers, when they go cold, are frustrating to watch. Panarin’s been an absolute joy – doing all the little things right – showing he’s far more well-rounded than advertised.
Once that shooting percentage normalizes – especially with more of those electrifying slap shot snipes – watch out.
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