Penguins’ prospect Nikita Pavlychev earns No. 1 spot on SportsCenter’s Top-10 plays

Penguins’ prospect and Penn State forward Nikita Pavlychev has been creating huge waves for himself this season.

Not only have we already extensively wrote about the junior’s incredible start to his 2018-19 campaign here on the site, but now we also get to highlight another stunning accolade Pavlychev can add to his résumé.

Saturday night, during the Nittany Lions’ absolute trouncing of the best goaltender and top-ranked defensive team in college hockey, Pavlychev used his incredibly long reach to deke past a few Notre Dame defenders, pull the puck back onto his paddle the opposite way while his body continued moving forward, and flick it beautifully over 2018 Hobey Baker finalist Cale Morris’s backup Dylan St. Cyr (who actually might be better than Morris).

After Pavlychev’s tally to make it 7-1 in the second period, Penn State went on to drop a 9-1 bomb in Happy Valley, scoring nine unanswered goals after Notre Dame opened the scoring.

With that goal, the 6-foot-7 Pavlychev now has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 17 games played. His offensive explosion this season continues to show real promise for his future development with the Penguins. Pavlychev still has his senior season to use to his advantage, and at this rate, he’s going to really impress once he makes the jump to the professional ranks.