New York Rangers left winger Artemi Panarin of Korkino, Russia notched his third National Hockey League hat trick on Thursday. Panarin scored thrice as the Rangers beat the San Jose Sharks 6-3 from the SAP Center in San Jose, CA.
The Rangers beat the Sharks in Bob Boughner’s coaching debut with San Jose. Boughner was named the interim coach of the Sharks on Wednesday as San Jose decided to fire Peter DeBoer.
In the Rangers win over the Sharks, Panarin had a four point performance. He also notched an assist on a power play game tying goal by Mika Zibanejad of Huddinge, Sweden at 8:49 of the third period which tied the game at three goals apiece at the time.
Panarin scored his first goal at the game from Ryan Strome of Mississauga, Ontario and Brady Skjei of Lakeville, MN at 7:56 of the second period which put the Rangers up 2-1. Panarin then scored the last two goals of the game. He scored from Filip Chytil of Kromenz, Czech Republic and Chris Kreider of Boxford, MA with 3:11 left in the third period to put the Rangers up 5-3 and then scored an unassisted marker with 2:34 left in the third period to put the Rangers up 6-3. Panarin’s second and third goals were only 37 seconds apart.
In 2019-20, Panarin has 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points in his first season with the Rangers. Prior to the year, he had played two seasons each with the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets.
In 31 games with, Panarin is a +15 with 12 penalty minutes, 13 power play points, three game winning goals, 90 shots on goal, one faceoff win, four blocked shots, 12 hits, 25 takeaways and 34 giveaways. He is currently the Rangers leading scorer in goals, assists, points, plus/minus, power play points, game winning goals and shots on goal.
Interestingly both of Panarin’s hat tricks prior to Thursday came against the Rangers. He scored thrice in one game on February 17, 2016 in a 5-3 Blackhawks win over the Rangers and on March 20, 2018 in a 5-3 Blue Jackets win over the Rangers.
With the win, the Rangers improved to a record of 16 wins, 12 regulation losses and three losses in extra time for 35 points. They are currently four points back of the Philadelphia Flyers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.