Exciting start to Conference finals, netminding legend retires — week in review
Overtime. Lots of overtime. That’s how round three of this year’s playoffs started. And there was excitement in the women’s championship a well as the final series went to a game-five decider. Meanwhile, away from the ice, an all-time KHL great announced his retirement after 15 seasons.
Overtime drama in opening games
The Conference finals got underway over the weekend, and both series opened with battles going into overtime. In the East, Avangard grabbed a tying goal three seconds before the end of its game with Ak Bars. However, that did not prevent the top seed getting the verdict on Kirill Panyukov’s OT tally. In the West, things proved more complicated. SKA and CSKA also tied 2-2 in regulation, but it took more than 40 minutes of extras to find a winner. Eventually, Nikita Nesterov’s point shot gave the defending champion the first victory of the series: the CSKA defenseman stopped the clock on 102:24 in St. Petersburg.
Knight’s double fails to rescue Avangard. April 1 playoffs
Defending champion strikes first in Conference final. April 2 playoffs
CSKA’s run of game seven showdowns
Defending champion CSKA reached its latest conference final with a convincing 5-0 victory over Lokomotiv. However, that scoreline belied another tight series that went to seven games. Indeed, the Muscovites are on an incredible run of seven-game playoff battles dating back to last season: the Loko series was the fourth time in a row that Sergei Fedorov’s team needed to negotiate a game seven decider. The run started in last year’s conference final against SKA. Then came a fightback from 1-3 to defeat Metallurg in the Gagarin Cup final. This year’s playoff campaign began with a series against Severstal that went the full distance, followed by the clash with Lokomotiv. After the opening game against SKA went to overtime, there’s every possibility that we’ll see another close battle – could it be a fifth game seven for CSKA?
CSKA overpowers Lokomotiv, advances in game seven. March 29 playoffs
Legendary goalie Koshechkin retires
Veteran Metallurg goalie Vasily Koshechkin announced his retirement after a glittering KHL career. The 40-year-old Togliatti native was still with Lada when the KHL began in 2008 and in the league’s early years he also played for Severstal. But it was in Magnitogorsk that things really took off. He played the latter half of the 2009-2010 season there, and returned in 2014 to backstop the run to Gagarin Cup glory under Mike Keenan. In that campaign, Koshechkin played 51 regular season games and all 21 playoff encounters, recording 46 victories. Two years later, the goalie was again instrumental in Magnitka’s second Gagarin Cup win. In 2018, he returned to international hockey after a five-year break to help Russia win Olympic gold in PyeongChang. Koshechkin holds the KHL record for goaltending appearances in the regular season (611) and playoffs (154), and also for victories (292 and 86 respectively). His 75 regular season shut-outs represent another record.
Vasily Koshechkin: a Giant Record-Breaker
Agidel wins fourth title
The Women’s Hockey League season reached its climax on Sunday with Agidel Ufa defeating Dynamo Neva in the game five decider in the final series. That gives Agidel its fourth WHL title, more than any other club. However, it was a hard battle against Dynamo. The Ufa club took an early 2-0 lead on goals from Ilona Markova and Ksenia Tyurina, but the visitor hit back to tie the game with two markers from Oxana Bratishcheva. With three minutes left, Agidel got the all-important goal when Elizaveta Rodnova redirected a point shot from Maria Batalova into the net to clinch a 3-2 victory.
Minsk wins Mascot Mania
Over the weekend, the KHL staged its third Mascot Mania contest to choose the best mascot among the league’s clubs. After an online poll and a series of challenges at a live show in downtown Moscow, the top prize went to Dinamo Minsk’s Zubrik. He edged out Metallurg’s Timosha in a dance-off to take first place. Timosha won the jury’s special prize, while Lokomotiv’s Mishka received an award for the best online result.
Kunlun’s return to China paused
During the past week, Kunlun Red Star announced that its plans to return to China have been put on hold for another season. The Dragons have been playing in Mytishchi for the past three years due to Covid restrictions in their homeland but hoped it would be possible to go back to Beijing for the 2023-2024 campaign. However, on-going restrictions on international flights and a quota on the number of visas that China can issue to Russian citizens mean it is not yet viable to play the whole KHL season in the country. Red Star hopes to stage at least some of next season’s games in China, perhaps against Far East neighbors Amur and Admiral.
