After their 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers, the Washington Capitals found themselves in first place in the Metropolitan Division for eight minutes. Their division lead only lasted that long due to Artemi Panarin’s heroics in New Jersey.
The Russian center had five primary assists in Columbus’s 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Video
📽 ALL 5️⃣ #CBJ GOALS
aka
ALL 5️⃣ @9ARTEMI ASSISTS pic.twitter.com/ZVlIKTDmZ8
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 9, 2017
Check him out cheesing for the camera with his assist pucks.
RT to congratulate @9Artemi🍞 for tying a #CBJ record tonight with 🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎 pic.twitter.com/gkvUEmEKPJ
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) December 9, 2017
Panarin took the picture because he became the first player in 22 years to tally five primary assists in a game (22 years, 7 months, 21 days).
In tonight's @BlueJacketsNHL win, Artemi Panarin became the 1st player to get 5 primary assists in one game since NYR's Brian Leetch did it on Apr 18, 1995 vs PIT
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 9, 2017
He’s only the seventh player in modern history to accomplish the feat.
Artemi Panarin's 5 assist game for the @BlueJacketsNHL tonight was a rare one indeed, as it put him on this exclusive list dating back 25 seasons pic.twitter.com/XwLoG0YAJN
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 9, 2017
And the 8th ever to do it on the road… ever.
#CBJ forward Artemi Panarin tonight did something quite rare, recording just the 8th ever 5+ primary assist road game in regular season history pic.twitter.com/EUtGRBAowZ
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 9, 2017
He’s also only the fourth Russian to have 5 assists in a single game.
Artemi Panarin's big night for the @BlueJacketsNHL also made him just the 4th Russian-born player ever to record 5 assists in a single game pic.twitter.com/WukQEDJlA6
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 9, 2017
Wow.
