New names challenge at the top — the KHL week in review
Another busy week of KHL action sees new contenders emerge at the top of the Eastern Conference and the league’s scoring race. A couple of Belarusian rookies caught the eye and a Czech D-man set a new club record. Meanwhile, in the women’s league, the focus is firmly on the playoffs after the four post-season qualifiers were confirmed last week.
Beck joins scoring race
Sibir’s Taylor Beck is enjoying a great season. The Canadian forward has set a personal best for scoring in the KHL and is now the most prolific Sibir player in a single KHL season. This week he also moved to the top of the 2022-2023 scoring race, drawing level with SKA’s Marat Khairullin on 50 points. Khairullin has more goals – 25 to date – while Beck has more assists after helping his colleagues score 36 times. The pair are one point ahead of Torpedo’s Alexei Kruchinin, with Avangard’s Vladimir Tkachyov (48 points) and Avto’s French center Stephane Da Costa (47) in close pursuit.
Sulak sets club record
When Libor Sulak scored in the 46th minute of Admiral’s home game against Sibir, the Czech defenseman was primarily focused on helping his team recover a 0-2 deficit. However, his goal took him to 31 points for the season, overtaking Jonathon Blum’s club record haul for a blue liner.
Best Players of the 2022-2023 twenty-first week
Ak Bars level with leader
Prior to Christmas, it was hard to see Ak Bars living up to its pre-season status as the top team in East. However, under the guidance of club legend Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, Kazan has lift off. This week, Ak Bars continued its winning form and moved to 73 points from 57 games. That’s level with Eastern Conference leader Sibir, and the Siberians hold top spot purely by virtue of winning more games in regulation. The team seems to be hitting form at just the right time for a strong finish to the season and it would take a brave man to bet against them topping the Conference come the end of next month.
Four-star Shipachyov puts Ak Bars level with the leader. January 29 round-up
Playoff battles still on a knife edge
It doesn’t matter whether you look at the east or the west, there’s still a frantic fight to secure a ticket to post-season. At this stage, with most teams having 10-12 games left, SKA is the only team guaranteed a playoff spot and Sochi is the only competitor to be officially eliminated. In the Western Conference, one point separates seventh-placed Spartak and ninth-placed Dinamo Minsk, with Severstal between the two. Kunlun Red Star is still mathematically in contention, but his a tough task to claw back a 12-point deficit at this stage.
In the East, meanwhile, one point again separates three teams. Neftekhimik is in eighth place with 57 points. Barys is level on points, but sits in ninth, one point ahead of Amur. The Tigers have played just 55 games and enjoy the best PPG ratio of the rivals. Meanwhile, despite some poor results this week, last-placed Traktor is still in contention on 54 points.
Dinamo trusts in youth
The top scorer in this year’s Junior Hockey League is Belarusian hot-shot Daniil Sotishvili. The 19-year-old, representing Dinamo-Shinnik Bobruisk, has 54 (22+32) points from 43 games among his fellow youngsters. That form could not escape the attention of Craig Woodcroft and his senior Dinamo team. Sotishvili got a call up for his first KHL game and marked the occasion with a debut goal in a 5-1 victory over Kunlun Red Star. Interestingly, although Dinamo is in the thick of a battle to secure a playoff spot, Woodcroft is showing every willingness to trust the club’s prospects. Last week saw 18-year-old Stepan Zvyagin pot his first KHL goal for the Bison, scoring on Spartak in his sixth game in the big league.
Varnakov joins the ever-presents
Only 24 players had featured in all 15 KHL seasons to date – until Tuesday, when veteran Mikhail Varnakov joined that elite band. The 37-year-old forward, a club legend at Torpedo, was a surprise signing for Lokomotiv in December and made his first appearance for the Railwaymen in a win at home to Vityaz. That was Varnakov’s first action for 15 months, and preserved his ever-present status in the KHL for at least one more season.
Women’s playoff contenders known
The Russian Women’s Hockey League is approaching the end of its regular season – and defending champion KRS Shenzhen won’t be involved in this year’s playoffs. The post-season quartet was settled on Sunday when Torpedo win in Chelyabinsk ensured that it could no longer be caught by fifth-placed Tornado. Agidel Ufa secured top spot in the regular season last week, Biryusa Krasnoyarsk looks set to confirm second place and Torpedo and Dynamo Neva will battle for third and fourth in the remaining games. As a result, last season’s finalists, KRS and Tornado, will not feature in the playoffs at all. The regular season concludes on Feb. 24.
