Highlights of the day
Radulov makes history
Alexander Radulov today became the fastest goalscorer ever. The Salavat Yulaev forward scored against Yugra in the sixth second of the game, a record not just for the KHL but for all Russian championships.
The previous record had stood since the 7th of March 1998, when Severstal attacker Andrei Pchelyakov struck against CSK VVS in the seventh second. Pchelyakov’s achievement was matched five years later by Magnitogorsk’s Dmitry Yushkevich, but in recent history only five players across the entire nation have managed to open the scoring in the first ten seconds of a game.
Belousov is back
Valery Belousov’s return to his home club, Traktor, was not a triumphant one, as the Chelyabinsk men went down 2-5 to Avangard. It will be a familiar feeling for the coach: when he returned to Magnitogorsk for a second spell in 2008, his homecoming party was spoiled by a 2-4 defeat to Lokomotiv.
Belousov has spent his entire coaching career at just three clubs (besides Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Traktor he also had a spell in charge of Avangard) and moreover it is the third time he has landed a new job in the month of October.
Goaltender offenders
Both goalies in the Metallurg Novokuznetsk vs Avtomobilist game managed to incur two-minute penalties: Ivan Lisutin was called for tripping, and later Vadim Tarasov was punished for throwing the puck. However, both players have a long way to go to match last season’s most ill-disciplined keepers. In first place was Lokomotiv’s Georgy Gelashvili, who picked up 78 minutes of penalties, while seven of his fellow netminders also earned more than 20 minutes apiece.
Figure of the day
7 shots were fired by Metallurg Novokuznetsk attacker Dmitry Dudarev at the Avtomobilist goal, and not a single one found the net.
Key players
Ilya Proskuryakov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk). Saved 32 shots and stretched his team’s winning run to seven games.
Alexander Ryazantsev (Avtomobilist). Scored a double, which included the killer strike in overtime.
Denis Kulyash (Avangard). Scored a goal and merited a +3.
Mark Bomersback (Metallurg Novokuznetsk). Despite finishing on the losing side, he earned a +2 and featured in both of his team’s goals, scoring one and creating the other.
Petri Kontiola (Metallurg Magnitogorsk). Scored a goal and won 76% of face-offs.
Alexander Radulov (Salavat Yulaev). Spent over 20 minutes on the ice, scored one goal, provided the pass for another, and finished at a +2.
Quotes of the day
“Maybe the home team relaxed a little after scoring the first goal,” Yugra head coach Sergei Shepelev.
“I don’t think we deserved to take any points from this game; we just didn’t do enough to earn them,” Salavat Yulaev head coach Vyacheslav Bykov.
“We trained very hard for the Novokuznetsk game, because I saw this team’s game with Sibir and that day they simply amazed me,” Avtomobilist head coach Evgeny Popikhin.
Alexei Shevchenko, special to khl.ru
