Goals a-plenty, tumbling records and All-Star updates
There was no shortage of scoring in the KHL last week: Sunday’s card alone produced 55 goals! And that means new scoring records and a first hat-trick for a rising star. The All-Star Week also got off to a high-scoring start among the juniors, while the stars of next weekend’s show in Novosibirsk are set for the 2025 Fonbet KHL All-Star Game.
CSKA’s tennis score
The last two results for CSKA resemble a comfortable tennis victory: 6-1, 6-1. Ilya Vorobyov’s team scored six on Severstal on Thursday, humbling the team lying second in the Western Conference. Then the Muscovites repeated the trick against Torpedo on Saturday to move up to second in the standings. However, it’s a competitive section and, at the time of writing, Severstal is back in that second place behind Lokomotiv. The Lynx are one point ahead of CSKA and Dynamo Moscow, with Spartak and SKA a further point back. In all likelihood, four of those five teams will occupy positions three through six at the end of the regular season and face off against one another in the opening round of the playoffs.
High-scoring Severstal
Meanwhile, after allowing six goals against CSKA in defeat, Severstal allowed six more against Spartak on Sunday – and won! An astonishing game in Cherepovets saw Andrei Kozyrev’s team return to second place in the standings after a 14-goal thriller. Five players scored two goals apiece: for Severstal, Mikhail Kotlyarevsky, Kirill Pilipenko and David Dumbadze; for Spartak, Adam Ruzicka and Ivan Morozov. It was the highest-scoring KHL game involving Severstal, outshooting the 3-9 loss to CSKA on March 8, 2023.
Demidov’s first hat-trick
Ivan Demidov’s break-out season continues with his first hat-trick in the KHL. He scored three of SKA’s four goals in a 4-1 win at Vityaz, putting himself in a great position to win the rookie-of-the-week award once again. If he secures another player of the week prize, it would be his seventh of the season and would see him break the record set by Jokerit’s prodigy Eeli Tolvanen back in 2017/2018. Oddly enough, that first hat-trick came against Demidov’s first club: he was part of the Moscow Region team’s development system from 2019 to 2021.
Shabanov improves club record for Traktor
During the KHL era, Traktor has nurtured the talents of some great forwards: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Valery Nichushkin and more. So setting a club scoring record means eclipsing some serious players. Maxim Shabanov has done; not once, but twice. Last season, he was the first man to score 50 points for Traktor in a KHL regular season. Last week, he had a hat-trick of assists a game at Kunlun Red Star, moving him to 51 (13+33) points for the season.
Avangard defenseman sets goal record
Shabanov wasn’t the only player to set a club record. Avangard defenseman Semyon Chistyakov scored his 14th goal of the season during his team’s victory over Admiral. That’s more than any other blue liner has managed for the Hawks in the KHL era. Previously the record belonged to Oliwer Kaski, who scored 13 in 2020/2021 and again the following year.
First shut-out for Shaimardanov
Amur’s young goalie Damir Shaimardanov has made his way into the first-team reckoning this season. While the Tigers have not had the greatest of campaigns, the 22-year-old has made a positive impression as he takes his first steps in senior hockey. And now he has his first KHL shut-out, making 34 saves in Amur’s 5-0 win over Barys.
Shirokov’s an All-Star captain on home ice
The 2025 Fonbet KHL All-Star weekend is coming up in Novosibirsk on Feb. 8-9. This week saw confirmation of the team captains for the KHL’s four divisions. On home ice, Sibir’s Sergei Shirokov will lead Team Chernyshev, with Metallurg’s Yegor Yakovlev fulfilling that role for Team Kharlamov. In the Western Conference, the captains will be SKA’s Alexander Nikishin (Team Bobrov) and Dinamo Minsk’s Vadim Shipachyov (Team Tarasov).
Elsewhere, there are some late amendments to the rosters. Due to injury, SKA’s Evgeny Kuznetsov cannot take part; his place on Team Bobrov goes to Spartak’s Ivan Morozov, who missed last year’s All-Star Game due to injury. On Team Chernyshev, Avangard’s Nail Yakupov replaces injured clubmate Reid Boucher.
Assistant coaches to stand up and be counted
Whatever the outcome of the All-Star Weekend, there will be plenty of people able to see the funny side. This year’s assistant coaches are taken from the world of stand-up comedy, with four stars of Russian TV joining the KHL’s top minds behind the bench. For Team Tarasov, Igor Nikitin is joined by Aidar Garayev. Alexei Stakhovich will work with Alexei Zhamnov at Team Bobrov. Viktor Kozlov will share coaching responsibilities with Evgeny Chebatkov on Team Chernyshev while Khetag Khugayev is assistant to Benoit Groulx on Team Kharlamov.
Challenge Cup and All-Star call-ups
The All-Star action started on Saturday with the Junior Hockey League Challenge Cup. This produced a record-breaking 11 goals as Team West defeated Team East 7-4. Matvei Korotky, of SKA-1946 was the star of the show, scoring a hat-trick. That performance earned Korotky an invite to next week’s Fonbet KHL All-Star Game. He’s joined by Yegor Klimovich (Sibirsky Snaipery), Yaromir Yermakov (AKM Tula) and Maxim Filimonov (Atlant).
Korotky, a 2024 draft pick for the St. Louis Blues, made his KHL debut with SKA earlier this season and has one assist from 14 games so far. In the Juniors, he’s going at more than a point a game with 31 (17+14) from 27. Klimovich and Yermakov are tied for fourth in JHL scoring, both with 47 points. Klimovich has KHL experience with Sibir, scoring his first goal last season. Yermakov is the leading scorer with Tula’s juniors, and also got a taste of VHL action with AKM this season. Filimonov has played his entire career in Mytishchi with Atlant and is currently captain of the JHL team.
