Vladimir Tarasenko has been one of the hottest players in the league and the NHL applauded his efforts by naming his as the first star in their weekly “Three Stars” recap. Last week, Tarasenko scored five times and was a +6. He recorded a hat trick and came close to repeating the feat just a few nights later.
If you go by just the numbers, you can see Tarasenko had a great week. If you actually saw the goals he scored and the plays he made, you’d be even more impressed. Dallas’ Ryan Garbutt is still recovering from this little move. Another came on a one-handed deflection he made while skating. Pretty remarkable stuff. That’s in addition to the smart passes, nifty moves and intelligent movement out on the ice.
Tarasenko has been playing with a ton of confidence and he has been a threat each time he has been out on the ice. Though the Blues have been calling the David Backes line their “top” line, it’s clear that the Tarasenko line is the most dynamic, most potent and most feared.
The big question is whether Tarasenko can maintain this kind of momentum. All hot streaks come to an end, but there’s no reason to suspect Tarasenko will fade. His shooting percentage right now (13.3%) is actually right in line with his career average (13.7%). That’s a good sign as he’s putting more pucks on the net (45 shots so far) and is well on his way to crushing his previous high (136) he set in 2013-14.
Teams will recognize Tarasenko and make plans to contain him, but there’s a lot of reasons to be excited with this 22-year-old skater.
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