Da Costa’s milestone and Vey’s resilience. Week 8 top imports
Stephane Da Costa became the third international player to reach the 450-point mark and may soon enter the top 10 in all-time league scoring. KHL.ru presents the best players from each country.
USA
D, SKA
3 G, 2 (1+1) points, +8
It has been another striking week for De Angelo, who maybe had a little bit less scoring than his usual, but was still a tremendous presence for SKA. On Monday, the productive defenseman potted the game-winning goal in the St. Petersburg’s franchise 8:1 win over Vityaz. Two days later, SKA had another big win, this time defeating Kunlun Red Star 8:0. De Angelo posted no points that night, but had an impressive plus-5 differential. On Friday, De Angelo added an assist in SKA’s 5:2 win in Moscow against Spartak. The defenseman ended the week with a league-leading plus-8 differential, and had an impressive 14 shots on goal. SKA is currently the second seed in the Western Conference, and De Angelo is a key figure in the team’s defensive lineup, often playing side to side with Alexander Nikishin.
France
F, Avtomobilist
2 G, 2 (0+2) points, -1
The Frenchman had more prolific weeks in his career, but last week was a special one for him — he recorded his 450th career point in the league, having two assists in Avtomobilist’s away win over Neftekhimik. His performance included an assist on Nick Ebert’s game-winning goal. Da Costa is the third international player to reach those heights, following Nigel Dawes and Matt Ellison. He’s currently the eleventh player in all-time league’s scoring, and has a good chance of overtaking Ellison soon who precedes him by just six points. The Motormen are currently the second seed in the Eastern Conference, and Da Costa’s points will be more and more needed as the campaign goes on.
Canada
F, Avangard
2 G, 4 (1+3) points, +2
The Hawks are having a rocky season, but Linden Vey is one of the few players who can be said to have a good season for Avangard. The Canadian veteran forward started his week with an assist in the Hawks’ losing effort to Traktor on Wednesday (3:4), then had three points participating in all his team’s goals when Avangard defeated Metallurg on Sunday (3:2). The Omsk team is lacking consistency, and while the situation doesn’t look so bad as it did earlier in the season, Avangard is still stuck in tenth place in the Eastern Conference standings. A disappointing result, which Vey’s points can try to improve as the Hawks will at least want to get to the playoffs.
Slovakia
F, Kunlun Red Star
3 G, 2 (1+1) points, -2
The Dragons are struggling as they lost their last six straight games, but Jurco is trying hard to reverse the situation and is doing his best. Last week, Jurco scored his sixth goal of the season in Kunlun Red Star’s losing effort to Metallurg on Monday (2:4). He also had an assist when the Dragons lost at home to CSKA on Friday (3:4). Kunlun Red Star is currently sitting on the bottom of the Western Conference’s standings, but Jurco is currently leading the team in scoring and his strong play may give the Dragons a chance in the second part of the season.
