Regular season champs and a major new record

Monday brings the end of the KHL’s 2023-2024 regular season. We already know the winner of the Continental Cup, and the goal that clinched it also saw one of the most imposing KHL scoring records fall. Ahead of the playoffs, we’re still waiting to find out whether Metallurg or Avangard will finish on top of the Eastern Conference, while the race between CSKA and Torpedo for sixth place in the West will determine the remaining post season pairings.

Dynamo wins Continental Cup

With one day to spare, Dynamo Moscow secured top spot in the regular season standings. SKA’s defeat to Kunlun Red Star on Sunday ensured that nobody could catch the Blue-and-Whites at the top of the table. Alexei Kudashov’s team has 95 points ahead of its final game against CSKA later on Monday. The Muscovites also know their first-round playoff opponent: Dinamo Minsk will look to unseat the regular season champ when post season gets started at the end of this week. It’s the second time Dynamo has won this title; previously, Oleg Znarok’s team finished top of the pile in 2013-2014, having won the previous two Gagarin Cups.

Dynamo takes the title after SKA’s shock loss. February 25 round-up

Gusev breaks Mozyakin’s record

One reason for Dynamo’s success this term has been the prolific form of Nikita Gusev. On Saturday, his assist on Jordan Weal’s OT goal against Admiral took him to 86 points for the campaign, breaking the single-season scoring record set by Sergei Mozyakin of Metallurg in 2016-2017. 

Gusev breaks Mozyakin’s record. February 24 round-up

“[On Saturday] I felt that it was important to get a point, that this was a historic moment,” Gusev said. “For a long time I couldn’t score or assist. But my team-mates believed in me, they supported me, we had to get it done. I’ve played in lots of big games, but every time you want to win. And if today’s task was to break the record, that meant we had to do it!”

Topping Tarasenko

Metallurg’s rising star Danila Yurov broke a scoring record established by Vladimir Tarasenko early in his career. In 2011-2012, the future Stanley Cup winner had 47 points in a season split between Sibir and SKA. That was the best ever KHL season for an under-21 player. Until now. Yurov moved to 48 points this season with an assist as Metallurg beat Amur on Thursday.

200 goals for Severstal

When Severstal went to Spartak on Saturday, it was a rehearsal for the teams’ playoff series. Goals were expected – and delivered. The Steelmen lost 3-5, but along the way moved to 200 goals for the season. As a result, Andrei Kozyrev’s men became only the 10^th team in KHL history to find the net 200 times in a single campaign. Spartak is another on that list, so there’s every expectation of a high-scoring series in the first round.

Playoff pairings – what we know

Ahead of Monday’s action, several playoff match-ups are already set. In the Western Conference, as well as the Moscow vs Minsk pair, we know that fourth-placed Spartak will face fifth-placed Severstal. CSKA and Torpedo are still to determine sixth and seventh place: the higher ranked of those two will travel to Lokomotiv, the lower ranked will play SKA.

In the East, first place is still up for grabs with leader Metallurg entertaining Avangard in Monday’s decisive game. Whoever comes out on top there will face Amur in the first round, with seventh-placed Lada in wait for the runner-up. Salavat Yulaev plays Traktor, while Ak Bars and Avtomobilist make up the remaining duo.

Record attendance in Novosibirsk

It hasn’t been the happiest of seasons in Novosibirsk, where Sibir failed to make the playoffs in its first season in the club’s new home arena. But that has not dampened the Siberian public’s enthusiasm for hockey. Last week saw Sibirskiye Snaipery set a Junior Hockey League attendance record when 7,414 fans saw the game against Irbis on Friday. A day later, the teams met again and improved on that record with a crowd of 8,028. Could we see an even bigger crowd when the Snaipery move on to next week’s play-in?

Agidel tops Women’s League

The Women’s Hockey League regular season is coming to an end, and Agidel Ufa is already collecting silverware. The team took the honors as the top club in the regular campaign for the fifth time, securing top spot with a 4-0 win at Tornado Dmitrov on Saturday. The women’s playoffs get underway on March 6 with Agidel set to start its campaign against SKSO Yekaterinburg.