Blackhawks' Kane-Panarin chemistry like no other
As the puck went from Artemi Panarin to Patrick Kane … to Panarin … to Kane … and yet again back to Panarin late in the second period of the Blackhawks' victory Saturday night at the United Center, there were five New York Islanders on the ice who all looked utterly helpless.
It was like two big pranksters playing keepaway from a quintet of first graders.
The back-and-forth sequence came just before Kane deflected a Trevor van Riemsdyk pass past goalie Jean-Francois Berube to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead. A flustered bunch of Islanders had watched the Hawks possess the puck for an astounding 67 seconds in the offensive zone and dish off 16 passes en route to Kane's second goal of the game.
Chemistry like this between players usually takes months, if not years, to develop. But Kane, Panarin and center Artem Anisimov seem to have found it in the hockey equivalent of a nanosecond.
"It's something special," van Riemsdyk said after the Hawks improved to 2-1-0 on the season. "They've been playing so well together. It seems like every time they're on the ice, they've got it in the offensive zone just making stuff happen.
"When that's going on, as a D-man, you're just trying to make room for them, let them operate and do their thing."
That third goal was a thing of beauty from a puck-possession standpoint, but the second goal of the game came in the exact opposite fashion - a blink-and-you-missed-it-moment in which Kane anticipated a pass behind the net, stole the puck and fed a charging Panarin.
Berube had absolutely no chance as Panarin rifled a shot past the bewildered goalie for a 2-0 Hawks lead.
"They've been fun to watch," coach Joel Quenneville said of the entire line. "Special plays and special players."
What's truly amazing are the string of events that allowed all of this to transpire.
First, the Hawks scouted and liked Panarin enough that - despite Panarin not speaking a lick of English - they offered the 23-year-old a two-year deal that carries just an $812,500 cap hit.
It's awfully early, but that certainly looks like one of the best dollar-for-dollar values in the entire NHL.
After GM Stan Bowman brought Panarin in, he inked fellow KHL teammate Viktor Tikhonov to a one-year deal. Good move there as Tikhonov and Panarin are buddies, and Tikhonov - a former first-round pick who desperately wanted to prove that he could still play in the league - would be able to help Panarin get accustomed to life in America.
But then came the deal that really put the wheels in motion for what is turning into one of the most dangerous lines in the league. That was the Brandon Saad to Columbus for Artem Anisimov/Marko Dano trade that many Hawks fans were howling about just two weeks after the Hawks won the Cup.
That trade, though, enabled Quenneville to put a decent NHL center in Anisimov with Kane and Panarin on the same line. So now, instead of just having a player like Tikhonov to translate, Panarin has a fellow Russian skating with him on a nightly basis.
Just how big is this? Huge.
Huge because when Panarin comes off the ice and adjustments are being made, it's Anisimov who can translate and communicate what Quenneville and the coaches want to do differently. Or has been the case so far, what they want them to keep doing.
As for when they're flying around on the ice, the verbal communication may still be limited, but as van Riemsdyk pointed out, that's hardly mattered at all.
"When you have guys that are that skilled, that smart - no matter the language that they're speaking - their hockey sense is on the same plane there," van Riemsdyk said. "They just kind of know where the other one's going to be and obviously (with) their skill they can put the puck wherever they want.
"It looks like they've been playing together for a really long time."
Said Quenneville: "The upside is still is untapped right now. Certainly been fun to watch."
And should be for a long time to come.
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