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The playoff pairs for the Eastern Conference are set after Wednesday’s play. The top four places were confirmed ahead of today’s action, and wins for Salavat Yulaev over Neftekhimik (3-0) and Traktor over Metallurg (6-2) sealed places five through eight. Those first-round pairings will be: Metallurg vs Sibir; Avangard vs Neftekhimik; Ak Bars vs Traktor; Avtomobilist vs Salavat Yulaev. In the Western Conference, CSKA secured fourth place thanks to a shoot-out win over Spartak. Fifth-placed Dynamo fell 1-2 at home to Admiral.

An overtime victory in Ufa, coupled with Lokomotiv’s defeat against Avtomobilist, means Metallurg will finish top of this season’s regular season standings. It’s the first time Magnitka has claimed top spot: in 2021/2022 the Steelmen topped the standings for points and ppg, but the regular season was not played to a finish after the Olympic break and the trophy was not awarded. Wednesday’s other action brought wins for Avangard, Severstal, CSKA, Dynamo Moscow and SKA.

Sunday’s three KHL games began in Magnitogorsk, where Traktor blew a 2-0 lead against Metallurg and, with it, the chance to confirm its playoff place. Spartak won 5-2 on the road at Lada and Torpedo took a 4-3 verdict at home to Sochi.

Dinamo Minsk’s in-form offense was halted by Metallurg goalie Alexander Smolin. He made 42 saves in Belarus to help the league leader to a 3-0 win. In the playoff race, Amur moved to within three points of eighth-placed Sibir with a 3-1 win over Neftekhimik. Tuesday’s other action saw Evgeny Kuznetsov led Salavat Yulaev to a shoot-out win at Admiral, and Lada came from 0-2 to beat Ak Bars at home.

Saturday’s big game saw the KHL’s top scoring teams go head to head in Magnitogorsk. As expected, it was a high-scoring battle with Metallurg edging Dinamo Minsk 5-4. Ak Bars returned to second in the Eastern Conference thanks to a dominant derby win over Neftekhimik. Salavat Yulaev reeled off a fourth successive victory, beating Torpedo 3-1, while Traktor won by the same scoreline at Sibir. Avtomobilist eased past Admiral and Amur took a shoot-out verdict at home to Barys.

Week eight concluded with two teams on red hot streaks, and another struggling for form. A young forward potted his first KHL hat-trick, and an established star returned to action with his first of the season. Read on for all the highlights.

Friday saw the end of two tournament. In Chelyabinsk, the Governor’s Cup went to host team Traktor. In Magnitogorsk, too, there was success for the host – yet it was VHL farm club Magnitka that took the prize, rather than Metallurg. Shanghai Dragons made their much-anticipated debut following wholesale changes within the franchise: Gerard Gallant’s team claimed victory over Spartak, aided by two goals from Gage Quinney.

Avangard reeled off a 10th successive victory, coming from 0-2 to beat Torpedo in Nizhny Novgorod. As a result, the home team missed the chance to confirm its playoff spot. Salavat Yulaev and Metallurg both secured their fifth consecutive successes: Ufa won in overtime at Amur, while Magnitka eased to a 3-0 verdict over Sochi. Severstal defeated Vityaz by the same 3-0 scoreline. In the Eastern playoff race, Neftekhimik got a big boost. A 3-2 win at Admiral, coupled with Sibir’s 1-4 loss at basement club Barys, means just four points separate those two in the race for eighth place.

The game of the day saw SKA edge a 3-2 verdict against CSKA. The win put the Petersburg side back into the playoff places, a more modest gain than would usually be associated with that fixture. Table-topping Metallurg continues to impress, powering to a 6-3 win over Salavat Yulaev. Western conference leader Lokomotiv went down in a shoot-out at Dinamo Minsk. There was overtime success for Vityaz, a second successive win for Admiral, and another good result for Avtomobilist at Sibir.

KHL.ru continues telling the stories of those who became league legends. Today, the talk is about Ilya Sorokin. The talented goalie made his path all the way from the JHL to the Olympics gold medal.

Earlier in this series we looked at the imports who enjoyed the most productive KHL seasons compared with their compatriots. Now we’re moving on to record the All-Time leaders from each country represented in the league. Once again, we’re starting with Canada — a land that supplies us with long-serving goalies, prolific defensemen and the highest-scoring import in the KHL era. Many of the players listed here have settled for long enough to take dual citizenship and represent the likes of Belarus and Kazakhstan in World Championship play but, for the purposes of these articles, we’re interested in players’ countries of origin.

KHL.ru has passed the halfway point in its rundown of the 12 best players in each position from its first 12 seasons. Now we are going one at a time, and today the talk is about CSKA’s Ilya Sorokin.

It was a good day for the leading teams in the Eastern Conference, with victories for leader Avtomobilist and two of its closest rivals. Avto eased past Torpedo 5-1, Metallurg hit a purple patch in the second period to beat Neftekhimik 4-2 and Ak Bars won 5-3 at home to playoff chasing Traktor.