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Form teams and hot streaks
After three weeks of the KHL season, it’s still hard to pick out a runaway leader. We’ve seen the defending champion fall to the foot of the table, and a team climb from last to first powered by a burst of scoring from the blue line. Other hot streaks stretch back to last season, with one import on a 12-game productive run. Read on to find out more!
And the last shall be first ...
Sibir is currently the KHL’s form team, with a run of five successive victories powering Vadim Yepanchintsev’s men up the standings. The Siberians lost their first three games, culminating in a miserable 2-8 defeat at CSKA. Since then, though, they’ve been unbeaten and a 3-1 win over Spartak on Saturday sent the team to the top of the Eastern Conference with 10 points. True, since then Avtomobilist has moved in front, but the turnaround has been impressive. Defenseman Trevor Murphy has played a big role in the revival: he’s on a four-game productive streak that has brough 8 (2+6) points.
Jaskin’s hot streak
Murphy’s run is impressive, but Ak Bars forward Dmitrij Jaskin is even more consistent. He’s had a point in each of Ak Bars’ six games this season. Counting back to last term, that takes him to nine regular season games on the scoresheet: he finished the 2023-2024 campaign with seven points from the final three games and his goal in Sunday’s 5-3 victory over HC Sochi moves him to 6 (3+3) points this year.
Leivo’s hotter streak
Jaskin’s run ignores last year’s playoffs. Salavat Yulaev’s Josh Leivo scored in each of Ufa’s six post season games in 2024. Since then, he’s also found the net in every game of the 2024-2025 campaign and he heads into Monday’s match-up with Metallurg looking to take his run to 13 games. The Canadian has 17 (7+10) points in that time, most recently adding a goal and an assist in an overtime win at Lokomotiv that saw Salavat rally from 0-2.
Record win for Admiral
A 7-1 victory over Kunlun Red Star in Vladivostok was the biggest in Admiral’s KHL history. The Sailors previously scored seven on Neftekhimik in 2016, but that game was a 7-5 barn-burner. This time, the home team was dominant, taking full advantage of an eight-day gap in its schedule to demolish the Dragons. Fefenseman Libor Sulak and Mario Grman ended with +6 ratings while Stepan Starkov and Pavel Shen led the scoring with 1+2 each. Daniil Gutik had three assists, helping him break into the top three in KHL scoring race. His 10 points helped him split CSKA’s early pacesetters Vitaly Abramov (12), Maxim Sorkin and Prokhor Poltapov (both 10).
And the first shall be last ...
While Sibir was climbing from bottom to top, last year’s champion Metallurg briefly fell to the foot of the KHL standings. Andrei Razin’s team lost five of its first six games to prop up the pack ahead of Saturday’s game against Neftekhimik. Razin had a boost for that one, welcoming back forwards Daniil Vovchenko and Danila Yurov from injury. But it was the two netminders who stood out through 65 minutes of goalless hockey: Ilya Nabokov made 32 saves, visitor Filipp Dolganov had 41. In the shoot-out, Nikita Mikhailis won it for Metallurg to move the Gagarin Cup winner above Barys.
Spooner comes back
Avangard’s offense got a big boost with news that Ryan Spooner is returning to the club. The Canadian was third in scoring for the Hawks last season with 61 (23+38) points in the regular season and a further 6 (1+5) in the playoffs. Reid Boucher and Vladimir Tkachyov outscored Spooner last term, but neither have featured in the current campaign due to injury. The 32-year-old, who previously played for the Bruins, the Rangers, the Oilers and the Canucks, agreed a one-year deal. He first arrived in the KHL in 2019 and has played for Dinamo Minsk and Avtomobilist. He has 229 points from 269 career games.
Coming up
Week four of the 2024-2025 season starts with Lokomotiv taking on Severstal in a battle for top spot in the West. The Railwaymen currently the have the advantage, leading the way by one point from their second-placed visitor. On Thursday, there’s the prospect of a similar showdown in the East when current leader Avtomobilist (11 points) goes to in-form Sibir (10 points). Friday sees the latest instalment of a long-standing rivalry when Metallurg takes on Ak Bars, then it’s derby day on Saturday when Spartak entertains CSKA looking for a repeat of its 4-2 win in the opening week of the season.
