He was kicked out of the Russian national team, but in Canada they are compared with Ovechkin himself! Kuzmenko scored in the first game in the NHL

Artem GaevAn almost perfect debut. Andrey Kuzmenko was in no hurry to leave Russia for the National Hockey League, but it seems that he decided to take this step just in time – at the moment when he was completely ready for it. How else to explain the fact that Kuzmenko immediately conquered Vancouver, the city where he began his career in the strongest league on the planet. Much became clear already in the preseason. In exhibition matches Andrey gave and scored. Including, in the majority. And he also managed to surprise the fans and his own coach with a throw. So much so that Bruce Boudreau even remembered Alexander Ovechkin: “On the very first day I saw him, I thought:“ If he is as good as he is advertised, he will put the whole city on the ears. I don’t want to draw too many parallels, but his throw from the left circle is reminiscent of Ovechkin. ”It is important that Kuzmenko immediately began to light up not only on the ice, but also off it. Troll partner Vasily Podkolzin, who is still helping a newcomer as a translator? Yes, easy! As a result, by the beginning of the season, no one had any doubts – Kuzmenko would play at the base and should become an important element in the Canucks. The first match of the regular season only confirmed this. Andrey began to be useful already in the second minute – it was his pressure that made the Edmonton player make a mistake, a few seconds later Elias Pettersson pushed the puck into the Oilers goal. At the first break, the teams left with a score of 2: 0, and immediately after a pause in the game, Kuzmenko scored. The Russian striker again helped Vancouver convert the extra, everything was perfect in this draw – Andrey famously rolled to the far post, and J.T. Miller put the puck exactly into his stick. A significant moment in the forward’s career, which in February of this year was not needed by the Russian team at the Olympics. It was not without trouble. After Kuzmenko’s goal, the game turned upside down: in part, this was facilitated by the judges, who were not supposed to count the first Edmonton puck, and in part by the Russian forward himself – Connor McDavid realized his removal. As a result, 3:0 very quickly turned into 3:3. As a result, at the end of regular time, McDavid, who scored a hat-trick, left Vancouver without points at all, but for Kuzmenko, the defeat of the Canucks is definitely not a reason to be sad and blame himself. He declared himself in the NHL from the very first game, now the main thing is not to stop – there are still 81 matches of the regular season ahead.