Three spaces to fill, new arena opens

The playoff picture is getting clearer. Last week saw six (!?) teams qualify for post-season in the Western Conference, leaving just one place up for grabs. And in the East, two more secured their places, with three teams in contention for the two remaining spots. Elsewhere, Traktor’s forwards hit new heights, a new arena staged its first game and long, distinguished service was rewarded in Minsk.

More playoff places confirmed

There are just three places still up for grabs in the 2025 playoffs after this week’s action. In the East, defending champion Metallurg secured its spot with a 4-1 win over Severstal on Monday before Avangard – currently on an eight-game hot streak – joined the party following Neftekhimik’s OT loss at Amur on Friday. Neftekhimik is still in with a chance of making the top eight but is six points behind Sibir. Admiral is two points better off in seventh while Lada retains a theoretical chance.

In the West, there was a sudden rush of qualifiers. Dynamo and Spartak booked their tickets on Tuesday, followed by three more on Thursday when Kunlun’s 0-6 loss at CSKA confirmed the Muscovites, Severstal and Dinamo Minsk would go to post season. Finally, SKA got over the line on Saturday despite an on-going losing streak: another Red Star loss was enough for Roman Rotenberg’s team. Torpedo looks almost certain to take the eighth and final spot in the West, nine points ahead of ninth-placed Kunlun with only 14 points available to Mikhail Kravets’ team.

Avtomobilist’s new arena opens

Fans in Yekaterinburg got their first look at the KHL’s newest arena when Avto took on Tolpar in the JHL on Friday. The UGMK Arena will replace Avtomobilist’s Uralets Ice Palace, staging its first KHL game on March 10. Before that, the juniors staged a test event in the new building. A crowd of 6,600 – limited to just over half the full capacity – saw the teams play out a 3-3 tie before Tolpar got the win in a shoot-out. Earlier in the week, the Motormen played their last game at Uralets and finished on a winning note. Brooks Macek scored the final KHL goal in the old barn to seal a 2-1 win over Ak Bars. 

Streaks and skids

Avangard is the current form team in the KHL. Sunday’s 5-1 victory at Spartak made it eight straight wins for Guy Boucher’s team. So far, 2025 has gone well in Omsk: from 21 games played under the Canadian head coach, only four have ended in defeat. In the West, Dinamo Minsk’s 2-1 win over SKA makes it six wins in a row – a stark contrast with SKA’s stuttering streak of late. At the other end of the scale, Barys ended a nine-game skid with Friday’s shoot-out win at Lada. However, hopes of a strong finish to the season suffered a set-back on Sunday in Chelyabinsk when the Kazakhs lost 8-0 to Traktor. 

More scoring records

That 8-0 win for Traktor updated the club’s record books. Vitaly Kravtsov scored twice in that game, moving to 185 points in his Chelyabinsk career. That puts the 25-year-old second on the team’s all-time KHL scoring chart behind Anton Glinkin (234 points). In the same game, Maxim Shabanov had 5 (1+4) points. That brings him to 39 assists this season, beating Tomas Hyka’s record for helpers in a single campaign. Earlier, Shabanov became the first man to score 50 points for Traktor in a KHL season.

Vityaz forward Dmitry Buchelnikov also set a club record earlier in the week. He reached 34 assists for the season during Wednesday’s loss to Avangard. 

Medals in Minsk

Ahead of Sunday’s game in Minsk, two long-serving KHL stars received medals from league president Alexei Morozov. Forward Vadim Shipachyov, who recently became only the second man to score 300 goal in the KHL, was formally inducted into the Snipers’ Club for players with 250+ goals. And head coach Dmitry Kvartalnov, leading his team for a league record 942nd game, officially joined the coaches’ club having long cleared the 700-game entrance requirement.