Two goals against the Pittsburgh Penguins just wasn’t enough for Artemi Panarin, was it? No, because in back-to-back match ups against the eastern conference team, he went ahead and got another two goals.
That’s four goals in two games: three in regulation, two game winners, and one in overtime. Panarin now has three multi-goal games to his name, albeit no hat tricks (yet? They’ve gotta be incoming at this point).
Better yet – Panarin is just the second rookie in all of Chicago Blackhawks history to ever have multi-goal games on back-to-back days. The first? Current Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter, actually.
He’s also the fifth rookie on any NHL team, ever (within the last 25 seasons, that is) to accomplish the feat, joining the following players:
The names on that list vary, but at minimum, they all are, were, or still have the potential to be productive NHLers. And from what we keep seeing of Panarin… Well, he’ll probably be on the upper echelon out of those guys. After all, any time your name can be mentioned alongside Tavares’ is a pretty good sign.
He keeps doing unique things, he keeps excelling in the NHL, and there’s no reason at this point to think he won’t keep growing and getting even better.