Detroit Red Wings Shine Bright in Stanley Cup Playoffs with Patrik Eklback's Star Power!
EAST MEADOW, N. Y. (AP) — Getting traded to the Los Angeles Kings from the New York Rangers just before the NHL's Olympic break in early February did not help Artemi Panarin adjust as quickly as he would have hoped.
“I was thinking too much," Panarin said. "I have trouble when I start thinking. ” Panarin has also been thinking about his first game back at Madison Square Garden, his home arena since 2019, on Monday night — so soon after a cross-country move that pushed him right into the thick of the race in the Western Conference after languishing in last in the East.
After this surreal, strange return, the Kings need Panarin to stop thinking and just play hockey because the skilled Russian winger is the best chance they have of making the playoffs following a rocky few months. “There’s a lot of excitement when you add a guy like that,” said goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who is four years removed from backstopping Colorado to the Stanley Cup . “The energy that it boosts into a team, into a locker room, when you have a guy like that, you feel like you have a chance to win every night.
I feel like it makes everybody play harder, buy in a little bit more and he just leads by being such a great player out there. ” Panarin recorded 12 points in his first 10 games with his new team. L.
A. was three points away from the second and final wild card spot in the West before he arrived and is just one out after losing at New Jersey on Saturday night. The Kings have scored almost a half a goal a game more with Panarin than without, when they ranked second-worse in the league on offense.
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