Menell anchors the blue line, Murphy propels Sibir. Week 20’s top imports
Sibir ends up on top of the Eastern Conference table also thanks to its Canadian blueliner, while Brennan Menell contributes to Dynamo Moscow’s winning streak. KHL.ru presents the best players from each country.
United States
D, Dynamo Moscow, 3 G, 1 (0+1) point, +4
Usually Menell makes his appearances in the headlines thanks to his excellent offensive skills, but last week it was much different – only once did the American blueliner appear on the scoresheet dishing out an assist when Dynamo Moscow downed Torpedo 6:4, the night when his teammate Ilya Konovalov scored a goal as a goalkeeper. Menell assisted on Nikita Buruyanov’s sixth of the season in the game’s opening stanza, and ended the contest with a plus-2 differential. Menell played excellent defense throughout the seven-day frame, and trailed only Sibir’s Ilya Morozov totaling a plus-4 rating among all the league’s defenseman. Also thanks to Menell’s strong play on the blue line, the Blue-and-Whites are on a four-game winning streak and are currently in fifth place in the West, tied in points with Lokomotiv and Torpedo, all three teams having 72 points.
Canada
D, Sibir Novosibirsk, 3 G, 2 (0+2) points, +3
The Windsor native defenseman is having a tremendous season in Novosibirsk, and last week he was again instrumental in Sibir’s success anchoring the blue line and being a key player at both ends of the ice for the Andrei Martemyanov’s men. The 27-years-old Canadian, at his fourth season in our league, helped Sibir winning six games in a row and climbing up to an unexpected lead in the Eastern Conference’s table. Murphy had an assist in each of Sibir’s wins over Barys and Metallurg and posted no negative ratings, ending the week with a plus-3 rating. Murphy is also one of the most played defensemen in Sibir’s lineup.
Slovakia
G, Spartak, 2 G, 1 W, 91.11%, 2.72 GAA, 1 SO
The Slovakian netminder is finally back after missing some time with an injury, and did it in style – last week, he had his third shutout of the season when Spartak blanked HC Sochi on Sunday. Rybar, son of Pavol, who played in Russia and Belarus during his playing career and served as goalie coach during Slovan’s tenure in the KHL, posted 26 saves that night. The Slovak netminder also played 28 minutes in Spartak’s 7:4 loss to Avtomobilist.
