The regular season is done and 16 teams are preparing for their battles. All the post season action starts on Wednesday, and it promises to be another epic battle for the Gagarin Cup.
Playoffs set
The regular season came to an end on Sunday, with the playoffs due to start on March 1. Each game day will feature four games, two in the West and two in the East, until each best-of-seven series is resolved. March 1 sees the start of the SKA vs Dinamo Minsk and Lokomotiv vs Vityaz match-ups in the West, plus Ak Bars vs Neftekhimik and Salavat Yulaev vs Admiral in East. The next day, CSKA starts against Severstal, Torpedo hosts Dynamo Moscow, while Avangard takes on Sibir and Avtomobilist plays Metallurg. The series will continue until March 13 or 14 if a game seven is needed.
Minsk completes playoff line-up. February 25 round-up
Bilyaletdinov poised for playoff record
He’s already won three Gagarin Cups – and could set a record by making it four this season. Before that, though, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov is about to coach Ak Bars for the 120th time in the playoffs. That puts him ahead of Oleg Znarok as the coach with the most post season games in the KHL era. He’ll reach that landmark on March 5 at Neftekhimik. Ironically, Bilyaletdinov got the chance to extend his career after replacing Znarok during the current season.
Jaskin wins scoring race
After a close race to be the KHL’s leading scorer, Dmitrij Jaskin came out on top. In his final week, the SKA captain played two games and collected 6 (4+2) points in high-scoring wins over Kunlun Red Star and HC Sochi. His final tally was 62 (40+22) points, three ahead of Avangard’s Vladimir Tkachyov and Alexander Radulov of Ak Bars. Jaskin’s 40 goals also makes him the leading goalscorer this season. Alexander Nikishin, also of SKA, was the most productive defensive of the season with 55 (11+44) points. He finished well clear of his closest rivals Trevor Murphy (46 points) and Joe Duszak (45 points) and also led the league for assists. Libor Sulak’s 13 goals for Admiral made him the leading goalscorer from the blue line. Among goalies, Admiral Nikita Serebryakov had the best save percentage at 94.4% from 50 games. Loko’s Daniil Isayev had the best GAA of 1.6, with Serebryakov second on 1.79.
Zaripov hangs ‘em up
After a career that brought five Gagarin Cup wins, Danis Zaripov is bringing his playing career to an end. The 41-year-old made his first senior appearance back in 1997 when he suited up for Mechel Chelyabinsk in a relegation playoff game and bowed out after 1,324 appearances. He later spent one season in the WHL with the Swift Current Broncos before returning to his native Chelyabinsk. Zaripov spent much of his career with Ak Bars, joining the Kazan team in 2000. He won the Russian Super League there in 2006 and added Gagarin Cup success in 2009, 2010 and 2018. In between, he collected two more titles at Metallurg, partnering Sergei Mozyakin on the champions of 2014 and 2016. Fittingly, Zaripov made his final appearance for Ak Bars against Metallurg. Despite a 3-6 loss, the veteran was happy with the reception he received at the end of a storied career.
Zaripov ends career, Neftekhimik seals playoff spot. February 24 round-up
“Everything went just great, apart from the result,” Zaripov told KHL.ru. “People often asked me how long I would go on playing and I said I’d keep on until I couldn’t help the team win anymore. And that’s how it turned out. The time was right: our team had already come first in the East, Magnitka was coming to play us, and everything came together except the result.”
The Michkov-igan
Matvei Michkov, loaned from SKA to Sochi, finished his season in style beside the Black Sea. In his final game, he helped the Leopards to a 5-3 victory with a hand in all five goals. As well as four assists, he also potted a ‘Michigan’ lacrosse-style goal. That’s something of a trademark for the youngster, who also scored in similar fashion for Team Russia last season. Perhaps it won’t be long before we’re calling this move the ‘Michkov-igan’.
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Woodcroft approaches 300 games
When Dinamo Minsk entertains SKA in the third game of its playoff series, head coach Craig Woodcroft should become the first Canadian to take charge of a team 300 times in the KHL. Earlier this month he eclipsed Bob Hartley’s record of 293 games as a KHL head coach to become the longest serving Canadian in the KHL. However, he still has some way to go to catch up with the late Milos Riha: the Czech had 490 games in the league, making him comfortably the longest-serving coaching import in the KHL’s history.
Agidel leads women into playoffs
The Women’s Hockey League playoffs also start next week, with four first-round pairings. The opening series are all best-of-three contests, with 7.62 entertaining table-topping Agidel and Belye Medveditsy facing Biryusa on March 2. The following day, defending champion KRS Shenzhen takes on Dynamo Neva and Tornado plays Torpedo.
Agidel looks very much the team to beat in the playoffs. The Ufa club reeled off a record-breaking 15 consecutive wins from the opening day and sealed its playoff spot back in December. It secured top spot in the standings with a month to spare. Olga Sosina led the league in scoring with 56 (13+43) points, and completed her 12th career hat-trick, a WHL record.
