Bench boss Ryan Huska said Kuznetsov doesn’t ‘ride the wave’ with highs and lows like many young players do, giving the 23-year-old high praise for his performance so far.

“I think he’s been excellent, I really do,” said Huska Thursday. “When he’s had an off night, it’s really not that off. I mean, we’re asking this guy that hasn’t really played in the NHL at all until this early portion of the season here to play against Crosby and play against Malkin and, it’s like, you’re going to do that right now and you’re being thrown into the fire with not a lot of leadup to it for him. But I think he can handle it.

“The size that he has, the speed that he plays the game with, he keeps it simple when he’s on the ice. I think he’s a guy who’s going to have a really nice, long career and I think he’s going to be an impact guy for us for a lot of years to come.

“When you look at him, he’s a great story, I think, for people to persevere and stay with it and eventually when your chance comes, you have to take advantage of it cause he’s all about that and I think he’s made himself a very valuable member of our team.”

Mikael Backlund has seen a lot of young players try and make their mark and become fulltime NHLers over his lengthy 18-year career.

Kuznetsov has also really impressed the captain.

“He’s been good,” said Backlund. “It’s not easy to come into the NHL as a defenceman, but I think he’s been solid.

“He’s improving every day. And he’s a really good person who wants to get better every day. He works really hard, on and off the ice, to get his game improving, whatever that can be. He’s a student of the game and that’s a great thing. He wants to learn; he’s a good listener. He has size and he can move out there and he scored some nice goals, too. He has really a heavy shot, too.

“I thought earlier in the year we were missing that one more defenceman,” he added. “And I think when he came in, he took that step, and it’s been really good for us.”

His reliability and attention to detail – along with the added confidence he’s building with every night he plays, Kuznetsov said – are the keys that he focuses on.

“My game is pretty simple,” said Kuznetsov. “but at same time it makes it effective. So, I just gotta stick to those things and just add little add-ons on top of it.”