It's been a difficult season for Valeri Nichushkin, but a night off Saturday to recover from a lower-body injury looks like it's revitalized the Dallas Stars forward for Sunday's game against the New York Islanders.
Entering the night with just four goals and 13 points in 37 games, Nichushkin stole the puck from Travis Hamonic in his own end and skated all the way down the ice before scoring on goalie Thomas Greiss in the third period. It was his first goal since Dec. 8.
Nine minutes later, Nichushkin chipped away at the Islanders' lead once again by sniping a power-play goal to make the score 6-4.
(Videos courtesy: NHL.com)
The performance marked the first multi-goal game of the 20-year-old Russian's career. If he produces like this with regularity, the Stars will only continue to get scarier as the season winds down.
