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O’Dell nets four, Bracco pushes Barys. Last week’s top imports
Eric O’Dell became the fourth Canadian with four tallies in a single, game, and imports help Barys in climbing up the standings. KHL.ru presents the best players from each country.
Canada
F, Dynamo Moscow, 3 G, 6 (4+2) points, +5
The Canadian forward had a striking week, becoming the fourth Canadian in the league’s history to net four goals in a game after Nigel Dawes, Francis Pare, and Jordan Weal. However, the Ottawa, Ontario, native, started the week being left out of the scoresheet when Dynamo Moscow downed the Hawks 4:1 on Tuesday. However, in the home game against Amur, O’Dell had one of his best performance to date, netting four goals to the Tigers – his best performance in the KHL so far, although he’s not new to multi-goal games. The forward completed the week with two helpers in Dynamo Moscow’s win over Severstal on Sunday (4:3), including assisting on Dmitry Rashevsky’s game-winner in the third period. For his efforts, O’Dell was awarded Forward of the week honors.
USA
F, Barys, 3 G, 4 (2+2) points, +3
The forward is at his debut season in the league and last week he got the ball rolling helping the Kazakh franchise achieving three consecutive victories. After starting the week helping Barys winning in Yaroslavl (1:0 SO), Bracco scored in the Kazakhs’ win in Moscow over Spartak (3:1), tying the game at one with a third-period goal. Then, on Sunday, Bracco was instrumental for his team in the 5:4 OT win over HC Sochi. With Barys down by two by the end of the first period, the American forward tied things up in the middle stanza with his fourth of the season, then assisted on Linden Vey’s double – including the OT game-winner. The Astana-based franchise is currently the sixth seed of the Eastern Conference, and Bracco is having a tremendous debut campaign.
Czechia/Russia
F, SKA, 3 G, 3 (3+0) points, +3
With the St. Petersburg’s franchise winning three straight games last week after losing to Dynamo Moscow on Sep 24, Jaskin – the team’s captain – scored in all three games to help SKA staying on the top of the league’s standings. He started the week netting the opening goal – the eventual game-winner – in SKA’s 3:0 win over Torpedo on Monday. He also added another two tallies in the next games against Admiral and Dinamo Minsk, respectively. The forward is currently leading SKA for average time on ice and hits, and as the season goes on, most likely also his offensive production will increase.
Slovakia
G, Barys, 2 G, 1 W, 93.75%, 2.27 GAA
The Slovak netminder returned to the KHL two weeks ago, signing a one-year deal in Astana. He started well in his seventh season in the league, with a 36-save shutout in his debut game this year. Last week, he had another striking performance between the piping, stopping 37 shots out of 38 when Barys defeated Spartak in Moscow on Sep 28. On Sunday, however, his play was less impressive as he was replaced after allowing two goals in the first period to HC Sochi. That said, Barys rallied back and won the game in OT. The Kazakhs are currently the sixth seed in the East and strong goalkeeping courtesy of Hudacek and Nikita Boyarkin is one of the keys to their playoffs push.
