Sasha Barkov, you are ridiculous.
In the span of about five minutes, Florida’s captain put on a display of hockey skills that left mouths hanging open and eyes popping out of heads.
Offensive skills, defensive instincts, strength, awareness, stamina, intelligence…no, I’m not describing Barkov’s skill set, I’m listing everything he showed during an amazing sequence that led to the Panthers beating the St. Louis Blues in overtime on Friday night.
Late in the extra session, Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Uvis Balinskis were bogged down in their own end on a long shift.
Sergei Bobrovsky came up with some big saves but the skaters were clearly exhausted, on the ice for over two minutes and just trying to keep their positioning.
The Blues smelled blood in the water.
It was in his team’s most desperate moment that Barkov put on his cape and became Superman.
First, Barkov made an aggressive defensive play at Florida’s blue line to force Dylan Holloway back into the neutral zone.
Instead of going for a line charge, Barkov kept pursuing until Holloway was all the way back in his own zone, where Barkov then picked his pocket and came away with the puck.
He then played keep away for a few seconds against all three Blues players, allowing his teammates time to change.
Barkov did such a good job keeping the puck that he ended up drawing a penalty on Brayden Schenn for tripping.
“Just great moments from great players,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “Especially with the week he had, flying across the country, he missed some games with an illness. He was on the ice probably two minutes before he took on the rest of their team, and those are the things that special players do, for the fans and for the other guys on the bench, to really sit and watch that, in awe. It was fun to be a part of.”
It was a game-saving effort, to be sure.
To hear the humble Barkov describe the play, it didn’t sound like anything extraordinary.
“I was close to the puck, so I just tried to take it away and fortunately got it,” he said. “And then we got a power play.”
Was Barkov done there? Nope.
After gulping down some oxygen during a brief timeout, Barkov hopped back over the boards for the ensuing power play.
With the puck back on his stick, Barkov surveyed the scene and came to the conclusion that shooting the puck was his best, and last, option.
He was right.
Dancing with the puck long enough to find just the right angle, Barkov wired a wrist shot that snuck through Joel Hofer’s arm and body, fluttering into the net.
“I think the last option was to shoot for me, because I know we had couple shooters there, and they were taken away,” he said. “I just saw the net and tried to put it in, and it went in.”
The goal capped off an unreal all-around effort by Barkov, one that had his teammates shaking their heads.
“It’s just normal, that’s what he does,” Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis said with a smile. “He’s unbelievable.”
Barkov is now up to 10 goals and 32 points in 24 games this season.
Four of those goals have come over his past six outings.
He’s playing some of the best hockey of his life right now, and his two-plus minutes of insanity during overtime on Friday was a perfect encapsulation of who and what he is.
“He’s a Selke winner with incredible speed and size, but then just great hands as well,” said Maurice. “There’s just not very many, over the history of the game, guys like that.”
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