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Tankov scores twice in VHL debut

Don't let the blue and orange jerseys, the No. 97, or the highlight-reel goals fool you.

That's not Connor McDavid, that's Penguins 2021 seventh-round pick Kirill Tankov.

Tankov, 19, made his regular-season debut in the Russian VHL on Thursday. The VHL is the league one step below the KHL, and one step above the MHL, the junior league in which Tankov was scoring all of those highlight-reel goals that went viral after he was drafted.

Tankov centered SKA-Neva's third line in Thursday's game, and scored two goals in a 6-1 win over Bars Kazan in the season-opener.