Alexander Alekseevich Pechursky (Russian: Александр Алексеевич Печурский) (born 4 June 1990) is a Russian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He most recently played for Metallurg Novokuznetsk of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL). Pechurskiy was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins 150th overall in the 5th round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He played one game for the Penguins in 2010. Pechursky then played in the Central Hockey League before returning to Russia.

Alexander Pechursky
Pechursky with HC Amur Khabarovsk in 2016
Born (1990-06-04) 4 June 1990 (age 34)
Magnitogorsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 183 lb (83 kg; 13 st 1 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Pittsburgh Penguins
Amur Khabarovsk
NHL draft 150th overall, 2008
Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career 2007–2020

Playing career

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Pechurskiy began his professional career with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Russian Superleague in 2007–08, playing in 26 games and posting a 2.07 goals against average. He played for Team Russia at the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships with a 3.06 GAA and a .8854 save percentage, while Russia earned a silver medal.[1] A month later in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Perchurskiy was selected 150th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round.

He began the 2009–10 season with Magnitogorsk, but after requesting a release, joined the Tri-City Americans of the major junior Western Hockey League in the United States in December 2009.[2]

On 16 January 2010 Pechurskiy signed an amateur try-out contract with the Penguins due to injuries to starter Marc-André Fleury and back-up Brent Johnson. That night he was to serve as a back-up to the Penguins' third goalie John Curry against the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place.[3] At the time of his signing, Pechurskiy had a 4–1–1 record, with a 1.84 goals against average, a .936 save percentage, and two shutouts in the WHL.[4] After Curry allowed five goals against the Canucks, Pechurskiy entered in relief and became the first Russian goaltender to play for the Penguins.[5] He played the final 35:31 of the game, making 12 saves on 13 shots, and earned the third star of the game.[6] This effort by Pechurskiy tallied him a 0.923 save percentage and a 1.69 goals against average. After the game, Pechurskiy spoke with teammates and media through translations by Ukrainian Ruslan Fedotenko, and Russians Evgeni Malkin[7] and Sergei Gonchar.

Pechurskiy started the 2010–11 season going 2–0–1 with the Americans.[8] On 14 October 2010, the Tri-City Americans announced that they had waived Pechurskiy because of the WHL's mandated limit on overaged players (he was 20 years old at the time).[9]

On 12 November 2010, Pechurskiy signed a contract with the Mississippi RiverKings of the Central Hockey League and began playing regularly for the team.[5] On 25 January 2011, he was signed to a Professional Tryout (PTO) contract with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.[10] Pechurskiy did not make any appearances with the team, and was released from his contract on 31 January 2011 to return to the River Kings.[11]

On 6 June 2011, Pechurskiy returned to his native Russia, securing a contract in a return with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Career statistics

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2007–08 Metallurg Magnitogorsk RUS-3 27 62
2007–08 Metallurg Magnitogorsk RSL 1 1 0 0 0.00
2008–09 Metallurg Magnitogorsk RUS-3 20 54
2009–10 Stalnye Lisy MHL 5 4 1 0 299 14 0 2.81 .917
2009–10 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 1 0 0 0 30 3 0 6.00 .571
2009–10 Tri-City Americans WHL 27 13 10 1 1403 61 4 2.61 .912 7 1 2 305 15 0 2.95 .909
2009–10 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 1 0 0 0 36 1 0 1.67 .923
2010–11 Tri-City Americans WHL 3 2 0 1 184 11 0 3.60 .861
2010–11 Mississippi RiverKings CHL 37 17 14 2 2030 103 1 3.04 .894 5 2 3 3.45 .874
2011–12 Stalnye Lisy MHL 18 13 2 2 1024 38 1 2.23 .922 11 7 4 587 25 0 2.55 .919
2011–12 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 5 0 2 0 259 11 0 2.55 .914
2011–12 Titan Klin VHL 12 7 2 2 699 27 0 2.32 .923
2012–13 Yuzhny Ural Orsk VHL 35 22 11 2 2062 63 5 1.83 .935
2013–14 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 7 3 1 1 272 11 0 2.42 .913 1 0 0 14 2 0 8.46 .600
2014–15 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 9 2 6 0 400 16 0 2.40 .910
2014–15 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 14 2 8 1 703 41 0 3.50 .893
2015–16 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 18 6 7 2 936 30 1 1.92 .936
2016–17 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 9 0 3 3 257 15 0 3.50 .874
2017–18 Tsen Tou Jilin VHL 38 17 14 0 1944 81 3 2.50 .910
2018–19 Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk VHL 32 13 16 2 1752 69 0 2.36 .917
2018–19 Altay-Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk KAZ 1 2.03 .909
2019–20 Metallurg Novokuznetsk VHL 11 4 4 2 595 33 0 3.33 .892
KHL totals 63 13 27 7 2858 127 1 2.67 .910 1 0 0 14 2 0 8.46 .600
NHL totals 1 0 0 0 36 1 0 1.67 .923

International

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Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2007 Russia U18 3 1 0 0 77 5 0 3.92 .861
2008 Russia U18 5 4 1 0 216 11 0 3.06 .885
Junior totals 8 5 1 0 293 16 0 3.28 .879

References

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  1. ^ "Alexander Pechurski". Hockey's Future. 21 August 2008. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  2. ^ "Highly-touted Russian goalie joins Ams". Tri-City Herald. 24 December 2009. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
  3. ^ Anderson, Shelly (16 January 2010). "Fleury likely won't play tonight". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  4. ^ Penguins Sign Pechurski to One-Game Try Out – Pittsburgh Penguins – News
  5. ^ a b "riverkings.com: Roster". Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  6. ^ NHL.com – Game Boxscore – NHL.com – Game Boxscore
  7. ^ Penguins Report: Game Day at Vancouver – Pittsburgh Penguins – Penguins Report
  8. ^ Bob Bakken (11 November 2010). "RiverKings Sign Pechurskiy, Place Sterling on IR". Riverkings.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Americans Trade for Stebner from Hitmen; Release Brown, Pechurskiy, Kardashev; Reassign Guenther". OurSportsCentral.com. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  10. ^ Pittsburgh Penguins (25 January 2011). "Penguins Sign Goaltender Alexander Pechurskiy to PTO". PittsburghPenguins.com. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  11. ^ Jonathan Bombulie (31 January 2011). "All-Star Game Post-Game 1/31". citizensvoice.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
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