Goalscorer goalies and a crazy playoff race — the KHL week in review
Ilya Konovalov produced a once-in-a-lifetime moment to help Dynamo defeat Torpedo, while in the Eastern Conference we saw three teams jump from last place to the top eight in barely 24 hours. At the foot of the West, though, last week brought an end to Sochi’s post season prospects and saw the departure of head coach Sergei Svetlov.
Dynamo’s goalscoring goalie
Ilya Konovalov produced the highlight of the week when he potted an empty-net goal for Dynamo Moscow against Torpedo. Nothing so unusual about that, except that Konovalov is a goaltender and is more usually expected to stop goals rather than score them. The 24-year-old, who joined up with the Oilers last season but only played for the Bakersfield Condors, became only the fifth goalie to score in the KHL. Moreover, he is just the second to do it with a direct shot, lifting the puck over the head of Nikolai Kovalenko and watching it skid along the ice into the net. Konovalov was so excited he had to be subbed out of the game for a few moments to calm down. And no wonder. You have to go back to Ilya Proskuryakov for Metallurg in 2009 to see the last time a KHL goalie fired the puck into the opposition’s net.
Man of the Week: Ilya Konovalov
The East has a new leader
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg has held the lead in the Eastern Conference for some weeks, despite a run of indifferent form in the New Year. Since the international break, the Motormen have just two wins in 14 games. However, it was only this week that any of the chasing pack managed to overtake the leader. Sibir got there, defeating Metallurg 4-2 on Friday and moving to 70 points, two clear of Avto. During the team’s climb to the top, Trevor Murphy set a new club record for points from a defenseman (34, beating Patrik Hersley) and Taylor Beck posted his 47th point to establish a club scoring record in the KHL.
New leader in the East, Sochi’s playoff hopes end. January 20 round-up
And the last shall be first?
It was a crazy weekend in the Eastern Conference. In the space of little over 24 hours, three teams managed to move from the foot of the table into the playoff spots – albeit briefly in some cases. It all started on Saturday, when Amur won 1-0 in Vladivostok. Evgeny Alikin’s shut-out saw him overtake Juha Metsola to become Amur’s winningest KHL goalie (65 wins). Due to the time difference with Russia’s Far East, this game was early in the day and the Tigers’ success saw them leap from 11th to eighth in the standings. Barys dropped to last place. However, not long after that game finished, the Kazakhs went to Yekaterinburg and defeated Avtomobilist 5-3 to move into eighth themselves. Now Neftekhimik was bottom of the pile. But only until Sunday, when a 2-1 win at home to Avangard sent Traktor into the basement and moved Neftekhimik up to eighth spot. Incredibly, just one point separates the four teams – but only one of them can make the playoffs.
Eastern playoff race is tighter than ever. January 21 round-up
Nikishin targets the greats
SKA’s young defenseman Alexander Nikishin is having a fantastic season. He’s got 42 points, and is on the verge of overtaking Sergei Zubov’s club record, set back in 2010. The 21-year-old has already matched Zubov’s tally and it seems certain he will beat it before the end of the season. But there are more targets to aim for in the remaining weeks of this campaign. Thus far, there have only been four instances where a blue liner has cleared 50 points in a season. Kevin Dallman did it twice, his successor at Barys, Darren Dietz, achieved it, and Chris Lee holds the KHL record with 65 points in 2016-2017. Nikishin has a great chance of joining the 50 club this season, but he will have to produce a big spurt in the closing weeks to find a further 23 points and match the legendary Lee.
Best Players of the 2022-2023 twentieth week
Sochi sacks Svetlov
HC Sochi’s difficult season continues. The Leopards lost three more games and, in the process, became the first time mathematically unable to make the playoffs. As a result, head coach Sergei Svetlov was dismissed after 32 games in charge. Svetlov was the second man behind the bench at Sochi this season, having replaced Andrei Nazarov. However, he was unable to turn things around beside the Black Sea and won just three of his 32 games in charge. A 1-5 loss to Kunlun Red Star on Friday was his final game. Dmitry Kokorev stepped up as interim head coach, but immediately fell to a 0-2 loss at Spartak.
