Stopping pucks and scoring goals as the playoffs approach. Top imports
Dinamo Minsk and Spartak battle for playoffs, while Johan Mattsson gives depth to Avtomobilist’s lineup. KHL.ru presents the best players from each country.
Canada
F, Dinamo Minsk, 3 G, 6 (3+3) points, even
As the playoffs approach Dinamo Minsk needs every point in the standings and Ryan Spooner is having excellent performances for the Belarusian franchise. At his fourth year in the league and his third in Minsk, Spooner tried his best to help Dinamo reaching the elimination stage, in particular with a three-point game in his side’s 5:2 win over Barys on Wednesday. Spooner, that has set his career-high in the KHL with 47 points this season, is leading Dinamo Minsk to a third straight postseason qualification, but they still need to fall in playoff spaces and will face Vityaz in their last regular-season game.
Slovakia
G, Spartak, 2 G, 1 W, 93.85%, 2.01 GAA
Another player who is trying hard to help his team is Patrik Rybar – the goalie had two striking performances for Spartak as the Red-and-Whites are trying to steal the eighth spot in the West from the netminder’s past team, Dinamo Minsk, and Rybar had two excellent games last week. In particular, the Slovakian netminder had 37 saves when Spartak defeated Dynamo in another Moscow Derby on Feb 16 – his fourth performance this season. However, despite Rybar’s top performances, Spartak is still trailing Dinamo Minsk, and the next games will be key to understand who will make it to the elimination round.
Sweden
G, Avtomobilist, 2 G, 1 W, 94.37%, 2.01 GAA
The Swede netminder has used well his chance to showcase himself before the playoffs as last week he had a strong showing – he stopped more than thirty shots in both nights, and helped the Motormen achieving a hard-fought victory in Khabarovsk on Thursday allowing just two goals on 35 attempts by the Tigers. The Swede netminder had a neat showing two days later, with Avtomobilist visiting Vladivostok, but 34 saves weren’t enough as the Motormen suffered a 1:3 loss by the hand of the Sailors. With three capable goalies in Mattsson, Igor Bobkov, and Vladimir Galkin, Avtomobilist has enough choices between the piping, and it will be interesting to see who will be picked as the team’s starter.
