When goalies say ‘no’
It was a good week for goaltending in the KHL, while a league legend took his place in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. There was also a coaching change, a couple of big trades and a Siberian cult hero making an impact in European competition.
Goalies on form
Week 12 of the KHL season brought a bunch of shut-outs – seven from 11 games Tuesday through Thursday, then four more from nine weekend clashes. The most miserly game was SKA’s trip to Sibir on Wednesday: the teams went goalless through 65 minutes and even the shoot-out produced just one successful attempt, converted by SKA’s Valentin Zykov. Denis Kostin (38 saves) and Yegor Zavragin (27) were the star goalies. Lokomotiv was involved in three shut-out games: Daniil Isayev blanked Spartak (22 saves) and Torpedo (25), but in between his team lost 0-2 at Ivan Prosvetov’s CSKA. Perhaps the most surprising shut-out came on Sunday when Kunlun Red Star beat Dinamo Minsk 3-0 with 38 saves from Jeremy Smith. Not such a shock in isolation, but the Dragons had allowed 16 goals in the previous three games, while Dinamo hit Vityaz for six just two days earlier.
Bratash leaves Lada
Head coach Oleg Bratash, who took Lada to the playoffs last season on the Togliatti club’s return to the KHL, has left the Motormen. His departure, reportedly by mutual consent, sees Pavel Zubov step up as interim head coach. Prior to joining Lada last summer, Bratash spent much of his coaching career with Russia’s junior national program and also took charge of Russia II. Interim head coach Zubov, 51, had a brief spell behind the bench at Sibir in 2017 and has also been on the staff at Ak Bars, Lokomotiv and Metallurg Zhlobin (Belarus).
Avangard adds two forwards
With Avangard still battling to get into the playoff places, the Hawks are seemingly trying to rebuild the 2021 Gagarin Cup winning roster. Two forwards, Ilya Kablukov and Nail Yakupov, joined the club last week – and both were involved in Bob Hartley’s cup-winning team of 2021. Veteran Kablukov has been out of action since leaving Dynamo Moscow in the summer. He’s close to becoming the third man to play 1,000 KHL games, with 972 appearances so far. Yakupov previously played with the Hawks from 2020-2023 before moving to Neftekhimik. He began this season with Kunlun Red Star, and had 11 points in 27 games for the Dragons.
Ups and downs
Two long winning streaks came to an end during the past week. League leader Lokomotiv extended its hot run to 11 games before falling 0-2 at CSKA on Thursday. It was the first time the Railwaymen failed to score since Sep. 14. That loss turned out to be a blip, however, with Igor Nikitin’s team recovering to beat Torpedo 1-0 on Saturday. The last win of Loko’s streak came at Spartak, which saw its five-game run come to end after a 0-2 loss on home ice. Once again, there was an immediate response with the Red-and-Whites bouncing back to beat Severstal 4-1.
Komkov’s big day
Ak Bars forward Denis Komkov hasn’t had the easiest transition into senior hockey. The 23-year-old made his KHL debut almost four years ago in Jan. 2021, but never managed to establish a place in the first team. However, that might be about to change: Komkov got a call-up from Anvar Gatiyatulin last week and scored twice in a 5-0 win over Kunlun Red Star to record his first goals and points in the KHL.
Ex-Sibir captain shoots Kazakh club to Euro final
Stepan Sannikov, former captain of Sibir during a 15-year KHL career that also took in spells with Lokomotiv, Ak Bars and Salavat Yulaev, is still doing the business. Now playing with Kazakh champion Arlan Kokshetau, he helped his club reach the final of this season’s IIHF Continental Cup. In Sunday’s concluding qualification game – which Arlan needed to win to secure top spot in its group – Sannikov, now 34, snapped a 3-3 tie in the 58th minute of a game against Cardiff Devils. Arlan, which won the IIHF trophy in 2019, advances to the final in Jan. 2025. The opposition in that four-team event will be GKS Katowice, Bruleurs de Loups Grenoble and Cardiff, who qualified as a runner-up behind Arlan. Another former KHLer, Dmitry Arkhipov, who played more than 200 games with Ak Bars, Sochi, Amur and Kunlun, scored twice for Arlan in the same game.
Datsyuk in Hockey Hall of Fame
Pavel Datsyuk, the only member of the ‘quadruple gold club’ (it’s like the triple gold club, but with an added Gagarin Cup!), was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last week. At a ceremony in Toronto, Canada, the Magic Man was one of seven new members of the venerable institution. The Yekaterinburg native, who was at the heart of two Stanley Cup winning teams in Detroit, said: “There are no words to say how thankful I am to the Detroit Red Wings, and to the fans for their passion, loyalty, and support. You were the heart of my game. And thank you to my opponents. You were my nightmare, but you forced me to play better, and you were an important part of my journey.” After finishing his NHL career in 2016, Datsyuk returned to Russia and captained SKA to the Gagarin Cup in 2017 before leading Russia to Olympic gold in PyeongChang the following season. He finished his playing career where it all began at Avtomobilist in the 2020-2021 season.
