2020-2021 Severstal review: first postseason victory in 8 years
KHL.ru continues reviewing the 2020-2021 campaign for the league’s 23 teams. Severstal reached the playoffs for the first time in three years and forced Dynamo Moscow to find another gear to beat them.
The Cherepovets-based franchise found consistency since the start of the regular season and was never left out of the top sixteen teams in the league. The five games before the pause for the First Channel Cup were critical for Severstal when the team led by Andrei Razin strung together a series of five consecutive wins.
After the New Year, Severstal continued to alternate Ws and Ls in the standings, but after victories over Dinamo Riga, Lokomotiv, and Spartak — when Daniil Vovchenko netted a spectacular lacrosse-style goal — all the doubts related to the playoffs disappeared. In the playoffs’ first round, Severstal was to face Dynamo Moscow. After the first two showdowns in Moscow, the series was tied at one, and in the third game, Severstal only lacked three seconds to stay ahead and retain the leadership in the clash. In the end, Dynamo won the series in five games, but Severstal played on an equal footing.
Best players
64 games, 40 (19+21) points
The 24-years-old forward scored in the latest year more points than in his previous 100 games played with Dynamo Moscow and Severstal. At the start of December, the forward set a career-high with an eight-game scoring streak, surpassing Vadim Shipachyov and Dmitry Kagarlitsky for the longest streak by a Severstal player.
50 games, 25 W, GAA 2.44, 91.6%, 3 SO
Podyapolsky’s numbers were slightly worse than last year, yet the number under the most critical column — the ’W’ one — rose to 25. Podyapolsky was the second goalie in the league for wins, trailing only Eddie Pasquale, who also posted 25 victories, but playing five games fewer.
48 games, 20 (10+10) points
The large-framed D-man was Severstal’s top-scoring blueliner. It was the first time for Provolnev to reach not only the 10-point but even the 20-point mark. Moreover, he was the top goal-scorer among Russian defensemen, finishing the regular season in sixth overall place.
Best game
Severstal had several good matches in the season, but the game in Yekaterinburg takes a special place. In this encounter, Nikita Guslistov posted a hat-trick, only requiring fifteen minutes in the first period. Moreover, Alexander Petunin made it a 5:0 game in the final stanza, after a pass by Guslistov. In the third period’s tail, Avtomobilist scored three goals, but the game ended with a 3:6 score in Severstal’s favor. In that game, Guslistov established a record for the youngest hat-trick by a Russian player.
Head coach
Andrei Razin was at his second entire season behind Cherepovets’ bench. For the first time in three years, the team qualified for the postseason, where it won its first game in eight years. As a result, Razin was a nominee for the Best Coach award, with Severstal playing the whole season pleasantly and aggressively.
“We had a good season, but there is a certain residual feeling. There were many positive moments, and many players made a jump forward — someone even two or three. Unfortunately, Provolnev had an injury one month to the playoffs, and we missed him in the series against Dynamo. Naturally, we would have loved to score more goals, but we saw progress compared to one year ago. You always want more, but I’m satisfied with the season,” Razin said after the season.
Offseason moves
The best move for Cherepovets probably was inking its head coach Andrei Razin to a new contract. The team renewed ties with most of its leading Russian players and had a few exciting international signings, including Estonia’s Robert Rooba and Swedish D-men Robin Press and Jakob Stenqvist. Moreover, Severstal signed Kirill Rasskazov from Amur and D-man Yegor Rykov off CSKA. The main losses for Severstal are Vladislav Provolnev, who signed in the NHL and forward Alexander Petunin.
