The Columbus Blue Jackets are among the most “Russian” NHL clubs this season.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are among the most “Russian” NHL clubs this season. With the help of young domestic hockey players, he is trying to get rid of outsider status, and in the next regular season match, which ended in a home victory over the Boston Bruins – 5:2, this quartet – Egor Chinakhov, Kirill Marchenko, Ivan Provorov and Dmitry Voronkov – set a record. In the history of the NHL there has never been a meeting in which four Russians scored goals at once as part of one of its participants.

This victory for Columbus coach Pascal Vincent and the team’s hockey players, judging by their words and emotions, seemed to be incredibly sweet. All clear. Columbus is bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings and desperately needs points. And then we managed to take them in a game against one of the leaders of the regular season. And take it convincingly.

But another circumstance gave the win a very special charm. Over the past three decades, many Russian hockey players have always played in the NHL. And quite a few of them are star hockey players, exceptionally sharp.

But until now there has never been a case when four Russians scored goals at once in any match as part of one of the clubs participating in it.

But, for example, in the second half of the 1990s, there was a magnificent “Russian Five” in the Detroit Red Wings. And then it happened. In the match with Boston, Dmitry Voronkov opened the scoring. Ivan Provorov scored behind him, followed by Yegor Chinakhov, and Kirill Marchenko brought the difference to 4:0. In general, the entire Russian quartet of hosts scored goals, about which you need to know a number of important facts.

This quartet is included in the list of key components of the management strategy of Columbus, led by Finnish general manager Jarmo Kekalainen. The goal of the strategy is clear. Columbus once seemed like a promising team, but has not yet gotten rid of the label of a hopeless outsider. It has not advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs since 2019, and in the previous three seasons it missed the cup stage. In this sad situation, the club set a course for radical renewal “for the future,” that is, mainly with the help of new hockey players who are still far from veteran age.

All Russians appeared in Columbus recently, and all meet the key condition. The oldest is Provorov, who is 26 years old. Voronkov and Marchenko are 23 each, Chinakhov is 22.

At the same time, their backgrounds are different, with their own specifics. Strangely enough, Yegor Chinakhov ended up in Columbus before everyone else – back in the season before last. It seems that the sharp, explosive forward was helped to realize his dream of the NHL by working at Avangard with the famous Canadian coach Bob Hartley, who productively led the Omsk club at one time.

Kirill Marchenko tried for a long time to break into the SKA team, but despite his success at the junior and youth levels, despite the fact that experts always spoke highly of the striker’s abilities, he constantly wandered between it and the farm club, losing competition to more experienced players. Not such a rare case for the KHL. But leaving for the NHL brought him an unexpected breakthrough. Marchenko also started last season in a farm club, this time in Columbus. But he suffered setbacks, and the Russian was called up to the main team, perhaps not counting too much on an immediate rise. And Marchenko suddenly appeared as an amazing sniper, always ready for a lightning-fast shot, and in those 59 matches that he played, he scored as many as 21 goals.

Dmitry Voronkov, playing for Ak Bars, turned into a forward, without whom the Russian national team cannot do (well, if most of the NHL players are not available), thanks primarily to his hard work and ability to fight. These qualities – quite “Canadian” – transparently hinted that he should try himself in the NHL, and Voronkov tried in 2023.

Finally, Ivan Provorov, unlike his partners, can already be considered a league veteran, since he has played for the Philadelphia Flyers since 2016. It was there that Provorov earned a reputation as an extremely trendy, or something like, defender – not a tough guy of the old formation, but a defensive player who knows how to subtly and deftly handle the puck and spin up attacks. Columbus signed him in the summer, seeing Provorov as a potential defensive leader alongside Zach Werenski.

In the case of the Russians, it must be said that all bets played out – both reliable and not so reliable.

This can be judged at least by the club rating of scorers in the current championship. It is led by Boone Jenner and Zach Werenski, but closely behind them with 14 and 13 points are Ivan Provorov and Kirill Marchenko. Behind us are the formal frontman of Columbus, Johnny Gaudreau, with his bright track record, and the prodigy Adam Fantilli, taken third overall in the summer draft. Dmitry Voronkov has ten points, but he was a reserve for some time and played in only 17 matches out of 23 team matches.

Yegor Chinakhov is doing slightly worse – four points, moving from the starting lineup to the reserves and back. But the match with Boston, in which Chinakhov surprised with his activity and focus on goal, and added an assist to the goal, apparently can greatly improve his stock.

Alexey Dospehov