October’s finest: Shestyorkin, Lee, Kovalchuk and Zagidulin

To mark the end of the second full month’s play of the ninth season of the Championship, The Kontinental Hockey League has named the best players of the month in four categories.

– Best goaltender was Igor Shestyorkin (SKA), who helped his team win all 6 of his full appearances, keeping the opposition off the scoreboard four times (once on the road). Shestyorkin remained unbeaten for 205 minutes 05 seconds before allowing his first October goal, extending the shutout series he began in September to 272 minutes 08 seconds – the third longest unbeaten spell in KHL history. Unsurprisingly, the 20-year-old had the lowest goals against average (0.49) and highest save percentage (98.14) of any goalie in the League;

– Best defenseman was Chris Lee (Metallurg Magnitogorsk), who celebrated victory in 8 of his 11 games and ended the month as the highest-scoring D-man, posting 12 points (4+8), a haul which included two game-winning goals. Lee earned a +5 for October and he also contributed 9 blocks and 30 shots at the opposition goal;

– Best forward was Ilya Kovalchuk (SKA), with 18 points (9+9) from 12 matches, the highest total in the League. Kovalchuk took at least a point in 11 games and scored in 6, hitting a hat-trick (including the game-winner) versus Slovan in Bratislava and a double against Vityaz. The SKA danger man fired off 43 shots at goal and now occupies second place among both point scorers and goal scorers in the current season;

– Best rookie was 21-year-old Red Star Kunlun goaltender Artyom Zagidulin, who enjoyed 4 full outings, two of which were victorious, and against Amur achieved the first shutout of his KHL career. Zagidulin finished the month with a save percentage of 96.00 and a goals against average of 1.12.