Hi,
this is an update on Ziggy Palffy in the Slovak league. He's made everyone's jaws drop in the last few days and weeks.
A week ago on Sunday, Palffy's team Skalica beat Slovakia's best-known hockey club Trencin on their ice 7-5, with Palffy scoring a hattrick and adding 3 assists, with a +6 rating in that single game.
2 days later, Skalica won 5-4 on home ice, with Ziggy scoring one goal and assisting on all the remaining 4 goals, collecting yet another +4 in the +/- ratings.
Two days ago, on Friday, Skalica won another road game, 6-2, with Palffy scoring 2 goals and assisting on 2 others, adding still another +4.
So, in the
last 3 games, Palffy scored
15 points 
(
6 goals + 9 assists) and improved his
+/- rating by a staggering
+14. This must be an all-time record in the Slovak league.
This comes at a time when the regular season in the Slovak league is just about to end. One more game will be played tonight (Sunday), and the play-offs start next week.
Palffy's team, Skalica, traditionally one of the weaker teams in Slovakia, has now risen to the 4th spot in the standings, for the first time since the start of the season. That would guarantee home-ice playoff advantage for Skalica if they also win their last game tonight.
Not surprisingly, Palffy leads the Slovak league's scorers list with
74 points in 45 games (30 goals + 44 assists), with a league-best
+47 rating. He has led the scorers list for some time now (though not throughout the season), but only thanks to the last 3 games, Palffy is now also tops in the +/- ratings.
Remember, the
World Championships in Canada are coming up in May, very likely to feature Palffy in Slovakia's lineup. If this is the way he'll play in Canada, he'll be back in the NHL next season for sure.
BTW, the tournament will very likely feature a three-way match-up of LA Kings stars. Kopitar (Slovenia) will play against Johnson and Brown (US) on Sunday, 4 May, and against Cammalleri (Canada) on Friday, 2 May. (Presuming the Kings don't make the playoffs this season. You know how likely that is.)
LINKS