Hat-tricks and hot streaks

Last week saw four players score hat-tricks in the KHL – including two in one game. We also had a blockbuster trade, a Canadian Olympian arrive in Kazakhstan and changes at the top of the standings and in the scoring race. 

Lokomotiv back on top

Last season’s champion, Lokomotiv, returned to the top of the KHL standings this week. The Railwaymen’s current streak is up to five wins, with Bob Hartley’s team enjoying a three-game home stand against Sochi (5-0), Severstal (2-1) and Avtomobilist (3-2 OT) last week. The partnership between Alexander Radulov and Yegor Surin continues to spark. Veteran Radulov scored four goals last week, including a hat-trick against Sochi; 19-year-old Surin is on a six-game productive streak. 
 

Two hat-tricks for CSKA

Radulov’s treble was not the only hat-trick of the week. CSKA had two in one game as Dmitry Buchelnikov and Nikolai Kovalenko put Lada to the sword. After falling to 0-2 at the start of the second period, Igor Nikitin’s team roared back to score seven on the basement team. Buchelnikov started the fightback, then had two helpers as Kovalenko potted his three goals before the second intermission. In the third, Daniel Sprong’s completed four assists and Buchelnikov scored twice more, including a penalty shot to finish the scoring. None of that did much to improve Lada’s situation. Although the Motormen led in a game for the first time since Sep. 12, it fell to an eighth successive loss. 

Pinchuk reaches milestones

Hat-tricks were something of a theme this week, with Dinamo Minsk’s Vitaly Pinchuk scoring all three goals in his team’s 3-2 win over Torpedo. The first of those also brought up 50 career snipes and 100 points in the KHL for the rising star of Belarusian hockey. Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team is also on the rise, climbing to third in the West this week with three wins.

Silantyev leads Sprong in scoring race

Sprong’s four assists against Lada took CSKA’s Dutch forward to 12 (4+8) points at the start of his rookie KHL campaign. But the new scoring leader is Metallurg’s Dmitry Silantyev. The 25-year-old was his team’s top scorer in the 2024 playoffs (17 points) when Magnitka won the cup. He followed that up with 35 points last term, and has made a flying start to the current campaign. After nine games, Silantyev is on 13 (6+7) points. His current hot streak is seven games and he has failed to register a point just once this season.
 

Torpedo hits the skids

After a fine start to the season, winning the first six games, Torpedo was the last unbeaten team in the KHL. But Monday’s defeat against Shanghai Dragons ended that run – and now Alexei Isakov’s team has lost three in a row. Lokomotiv overtook in the West, while Metallurg and Avangard are also a point clear as they contest the lead in the East.


  

Chmelevski to Ak Bars

Ak Bars, facing a difficult start to the season, made a big move to sign Alexander Chmelevski from Salavat Yulaev. Last season, the American center was third in team scoring in Ufa with 57 points in 62 games, plus 15 more in the playoffs. But, amid the club’s financial problems, he was the only one of last year’s five attacking imports to remain. Ak Bars, which made a sluggish start to its own season, secured the signing despite reported competition from

Avangard and traded Canadian defenseman Wyatt Kalinyuk the other way. Ufa also received a much-needed transfer fee. Chemelevski’s debut for Ak Bars was interesting: he contributed an assist as his new team rallied from 0-3 to beat Metallurg.

Belov’s 1,000th game

Referee Alexei Belov took charge of his 1,000 pro game when SKA entertained Avangard last week. The veteran official has been working with the KHL from day one, and previously officiated in the Superleague. Before the game in Petersburg, he was presented with memorial pucks and jerseys by KHL head referee Alexei Anisimov and the captains of the two teams, Sergei Plotnikov and Damir Sharipzyanov. The game itself ended in a 3-2 win for Avangard, despite SKA rallying from 0-2 to tie the scores in the third.


 

Barys signs Olympian

Canadian defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon is the latest addition to the Barys roster. The Kazakh team has allowed too many goals this season and following a debut for American goalie Adam Scheel, the next step was to add reinforcements on the blue line. Wotherspoon, long an alternate captain at Laval, Montreal’s farm club, was part of Team Canada at the 2022 Olympics. He was one of four AHL players on that team. The 32-year-old agreed a deal to the end of the current season in Astana.