Yip empowers the Dragons, Sato writes history. Week 6 top imports
Kunlun Red Star had a productive week, while Torpedo’s Yu Sato scored the first goal in the league by a Japanese player. KHL.ru presents the best players from each country.
Canada/China
F, Kunlun Red Star, 4 G, 4 (4+0) points, +3
The Dragons are trying to get their head up from the latest places in the standings – and while they aren’t on the right side of the playoffs line yet, they are steadily improving. Last week, Kunlun Red Star played four games, and managed to get points out of all of them – with one OT loss, one SO defeat, and two wins. The forward started the week netting his second of the season in the Dragons’ OT loss to Dynamo Minsk, then added another tally when Kunlun lost to Severstal after SO on Oct 04. However, three days later, Yip helped his team returning to victory: with the Dragons and Traktor tied at two, the forward picked up a pass by Jack Rodewald and sent it top shelf in OT for the team’s fifth win of the season. Two days later, Yip had another game-winner when he opened the score in Kunlun’s 4:0 road win in Omsk – he’s currently on a five-game scoring streak, and was awarded best forward of the week.
Japan
F, Torpedo, 3 G, 1 (1+0) point, -1
The young Torpedo forward may not have been a striking week in form of sheer numbers, yet he made history – his Oct 9 tally in a home win over Dinamo Minsk (5:2) was the first goal by a Japanese player in the KHL. The Torpedo rookie made full advantage of his trademark pace to power from his own third before beating the goalie with a nice snipe. Sato’s venture with Torpedo this season is not his first spell in Russia, though, as he spent a season with Krylya Sovetov juniors a few years ago. Sato has already raised the Japanese flag earlier, collecting the first Japanese point on Sep 28 as Torpedo collected a road win over Lokomotiv (1:3), when he assisted on Mikhail Orlov’s game-winner in the third period – he also had a plus-2 differential that night. Sato’s progress is obvious, and his role is deemed to grow further as the season goes on.
United States
G, Kunlun Red Star, 3 G, 2 W, 95.83%, GAA 1.60, 1 SO
The American goalie has been excellent for the Dragons between the piping this week, and he’s emerging as Kunlun’s starting netminder – he’s played three of four games last week, and posted excellent numbers. In particular, he had his first KHL shutout on Sunday, when Kunlun Red Star defeated Avangard with a sound 4:0 score in Omsk. He also stopped 42 shots in the Chinese franchise’s OT win over Traktor, adding another 40 when Kunlun surrendered to Dynamo Moscow 3:2 in OT on Monday. The American netminder is currently on a hot streak and the Dragons are just a couple of points shy of the playoffs line.
Canada
F, Dynamo Moscow, 3 G, 3 (1+2) points, +4
The Canadian veteran is having a tremendous season, and last week only confirmed this impression. O’Dell started dishing out two assists as the Blue-and-Whites defeated Kunlun Red Star – after a win over Severstal fewer than 24 hours before – with a 3:2 OT score. O’Dell added a goal in Dynamo’s losing effort against Neftekhimik (2:3 SO), then was left out of the scoresheet when the Muscovites lost again after SO – this time to Salavat, but he collected a plus-1 differential in that game. O’Dell is one of Dynamo Moscow’s undisputed leaders, topping the team in points, shots on goal, and faceoff percentage.
