Stankoven praises Nikishin: 'He's been an absolute monster for us'

Monday was a big night for Carolina Hurricanes rookies.

Logan Stankoven scored the game-winner in a 3-0 victory in Game 4, beating Sergei Bobrovsky upstairs off the rush. But the partial break wouldn't have materialized without a quick, no-look feed by fellow rookie Alexander Nikishin.

The assist was the first career point for Nikishin, who was playing in his third NHL game after coming over to North America in April following the conclusion of his KHL season.

"He's been an absolute monster for us," Stankoven told TNT postgame. "It's not easy for him coming overseas so quickly and getting integrated with us. Just a great play by him there, a quick up. Nice to pot that. He's been unbelievable. When one guy goes down, it's nice to have guys like that step up."

With blue-liners Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker out with injuries, Nikishin logged 18:54 in Game 3 and 18:53 in Game 4. Fellow rookie defenseman Scott Morrow was limited to just 8:33 on Monday.

Nikishin, 23, doesn't speak English but has been paired with fellow Russian Dmitry Orlov for the last two contests to help ease the transition.

"He played great," teammate Jaccob Slavin said. "Huge congrats to him for getting his first point. He played a heck of a game. Came in here, stepped up, played some big minutes. He's got a good head on his shoulders. Lots of smiles for him. He's having fun out there."

The Hurricanes drafted Nikishin in the third round in 2020, but he quickly skyrocketed up their prospect rankings. The 6-foot-4, 216-pounder led all KHL defensemen in points in two of the last three seasons.