Players of the quarters
To mark the end of the first round of the play-offs for the Gagarin Cup, the Kontinental Hockey League has named the best players of the conference quarter-finals in four categories.
– Best goaltender of the week was Alexander Yeryomenko of Dynamo Moscow. He played in every game of the series against Dinamo Minsk, which his team won 4-0, with Alexander saving 96.2% of shots, achieving one shutout and allowing a total of 4 goals at an average of 0.99 per game.
– Best defenseman was Andrew Hutchinson of Barys (pictured). In the seven games of the series against Metallurg Magnitogorsk he scored three goals, provided three assists and merited a rating of +3. One of Hutchinson’s goals proved to be the game-winner and he averaged 22 minutes and 15 seconds on the ice;
– Best attacker was Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod’s Mikhail Varnakov. In seven games he scored six goals, including one game winner, and supplied the passes for three more. In total, Varnakov fired 31 shots at the Dinamo Riga goal and he finished the series with a rating of +5;
– Best rookie of the first round of the play-offs was Amur forward Dmitry Lugin. He took part in all four games against Avangard, scored one goal, assisted on one more, spent an average of 12 minutes 55 seconds on the ice and earned a rating of +1 for the series.
