Imports push Sibir in the standings. Week 14 top imports
Sibir climbs up in the East, Mattsson stops pucks for Avtomobilist. KHL.ru presents the best players from each country.
Sweden
G, Avtomobilist, 2 G, 2 W, 98.18%, GAA 0.50
The Swedish netminder is having a tremendous season, with another solid week under his belt. Mattsson led Avtomobilist to two straight victories, starting with a shutout. In Astana, the Motormen came away with a 2:0 win, with forward Brooks Macek netting his 25th tally of the season, while the netminder stopped 27 shots for his second shutout of the season, and also of his KHL stint.
After blanking Barys, Mattsson had another exciting performance, stopping again 27 shots in the Motormen’s 2:1 win in Magnitogorsk to further cement Avto’s lead in the East. For his efforts, Mattsson was awarded Goalie of the week honors.
Slovakia
D, Sibir, 3 G, 3 (1+2) points, +4
Before the season, not many would have believed that by the pause Sibir was ahead of teams like Salavat Yulaev, Avangard, or Ak Bars in the Eastern Conference standings. Now, all this is reality as the Novosibirsk side climbed up to third place in the East. The large-framed Slovakian defenseman is at his seventh season in the league and was instrumental in Sibir’s last week three-win run. After going scoreless in his team’s win against Severstal, Cajkovsky posted two points in Sibir’s 6:3 win in Kazan, with a goal and an assist in the final frame. He also recorded a plus-3 differential that night. On Dec 4, Sibir achieved another victory, this time against Igor Larionov’s Torpedo, with Cajkovsky getting an assist in Nikita Setdikov’s tally in the opening stanza. Sibir is currently four points ahead of Salavat Yulaev in the standings and they are entering the pause on the third place.
Canada
F, Sibir, 3 G, 5 (2+3) points, +6
If Cajkovsky was instrumental for the Siberian franchise on the blue line, the same can be said for Taylor Beck on the attack. The Canadian forward had a striking week, highlighted by a four-point performance against Ak Bars. Beck tallied his 12th of the season midway through the game, and had a hat-trick of assists that put him tied with Avangard’s Vladimir Tkachyov as the second-most assists in the league, trailing Avtomobilist’s Stephane Da Costa 26 to 28. The 31-year-old veteran also scored as Sibir defeated Severstal 3:1 and finished the week with a league-leading plus-6 differential.
Canada/China
F, Kunlun Red Star, 3 G, 4 (3+1) points, -1
The Dragons are struggling, yet Tyler Wong was excellent last week, netting three goals for Kunlun Red Star, and against big teams – a tally in the losing effort against Metallurg, and a double to SKA. In particular, in the game against St. Petersburg, Wong first opened the score, then recorded an assist in Zesen Zhang’s first career goal. Midway through the game, Wong had another tally that put Kunlun up by three, but unfortunately for the Dragons, SKA was able to rally back and take the game after SO. As said, Wong also scored to Metallurg – but his efforts weren’t enough for Kunlun to win a game. Currently the Chinese franchise is the tenth seed in the West, and falling into the top-eight will be a hard task.
