Alex Grant writes history for Barys. Week 18’s top imports
The Barys d-man nets four goals against Admiral, Chmelevski helps Salavat Yulaev building a winning streak. KHL.ru presents the best players from each country.
Canada
D, Barys, 4 G, 5 (4+1) points, +2
The Canadian d-man, Grant, who started the season with SKA and moved to Kazakhstan in late November, made history last week as he became the first KHL defenseman to net four goals in a single game. He achieved this historical feat on Sunday, when he recorded four tallies in Barys’ 5:1 away win over Admiral, helping his team to secure an important victory as the playoffs approach. Earlier in the week, the Canadian veteran, who is in his fifth season in the league, had an assist in Barys’ 3:2 defeat of Magnitka on Tuesday. For his efforts, Grant was awarded the defenseman of the week.
United States
F, Salavat Yulaev, 3 G, 5 (2+3) points, +3
Opposite to Grant, Chmelevski is a debutant in the league, yet he has shown a perfect adaptation to his new reality and, most importantly for Salavat Yulaev, excellent offensive abilities. He confirmed them again last week, helping the Ufa side win three consecutive games and recording points in all three. He started with participating in both Salavat Yulaev’s goals in a 2:1 win over Lokomotiv with a goal and an assist on Wednesday. Two days later, he had two helpers as Salavat Yulaev surprised SKA, handing them a sound 5:1 away defeat. Finally, when Ufa shut out Magnitka on Sunday, Chmelevski had his 16th goal of the season as Salavat Yulaev climbed up to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings. For his efforts, Chmelevski was awarded the forward of the week.
Slovakia
G, Torpedo, 2 G, 2 W, 94.83%, 1.51 GAA
While Huska has somewhat lost the competition to Ivan Kulbakov for the Torpedo’s starting goalie position, it’s true that the Slovakian netminder is having an excellent debut season in the league, as confirmed last week with two wins in as many games against HC Sochi and Dynamo Moscow, respectively. If the win against the Black Sea franchise was more ordinary, considering the two teams’ respective positions in the Western Conference standings, Huska was nothing short of excellent when Torpedo traveled to Moscow to hand Dynamo a 3:1 defeat, with the Slovak goalie stopping 32 shots out of 33 attempts by the Blue-and-Whites. Torpedo is currently the third force in the West, and strong goaltending, courtesy of Huska and Kulbakov, is one of the main reasons for this success.
Czech Republic/Russia
F, SKA, 3 G, 4 (3+1) points, +1
The Czech international had another striking week with SKA, posting his first hat-trick of the season when the St. Petersburg side ran riot on the road, scoring nine goals and handing Traktor an unwanted record for the most goals allowed in a single game. Jaskin is currently the second-highest goal scorer in the league, trailing only Avtomobilist’s Brooks Macek, with 29 goals compared to Macek's 30. However, there’s still plenty of time for Jaskin to recover and seek his second title as the most prolific goal-scorer in the league, after leading the stats in 2020-2021 with 38 tallies.
