Seismic Sunday for KHL coaches

It’s the time of year when clubs start reviewing their coaching options – especially when things are not going well. And Sunday brought the biggest sensation of the 2026/2027 season to date with a blockbuster appointment.

All change at SKA

Igor Larionov’s tenure behind the bench at SKA came to an abrupt end on Sunday as he was replaced by Andrei Razin as head coach in St. Petersburg. Razin was suspended by Metallurg almost two weeks ago, and the Steelmen rolled on perfectly well without him. Yesterday, interim head coach Vladimir Vorobyov claimed his fifth straight win since stepping into the hot seat. Early on Sunday, Metallurg confirmed that Razin had left the club and, within a couple of hours, the 2024 Gagarin Cup winner was announced as the new man at SKA.

Larionov, who was in his second season beside the Neva, suffered five straight losses and reportedly left the club by mutual consent. Razin’s tenure begins with a four-game home stand, starting Wednesday against one of his former clubs, Avtomobilist.

Sawchuk to CSKA

A week after trading Denis Zernov to Ak Bars, CSKA announced his replacement – Riley Sawchuk, previously with Lada. In his first KHL campaign last season, the Canadian was Lada’s leading scorer and went to the All-Star Game. This season, despite the team’s problems, he was again leading in goals and points when the trade was confirmed. As well as putting up the points, Sawchuk is a strong physical competitor, among the KHL’s leaders for hits and blocked shots last season.

12 games unbeaten

Sawchuk’s debut for his new club ended in a 4-1 victory over Neftekhimik. That stretches CSKA’s hot streak to 12 games. Igor Nikitin’s team last suffered a loss back on Sep. 13, when a 2-3 defeat at home to Lokomotiv made it three failures in the opening four games. Since then, it’s been flawless: 10 out of 12 wins in regulation, with four shut-outs along the way. That run of form puts the Muscovites on top of the Western Conference, two points clear of Lokomotiv but three adrift of Metallurg in the overall standings.

Sochi stuns Ak Bars again

Rooted to the foot of the KHL standings, Sochi has just three wins this season. So it’s a surprise to see that two of them came against last year’s beaten finalist, Ak Bars. On Sep. 18, the teams’ first meeting ended in a 3-2 win for the Leopards on home ice. Then, last week in Kazan the return game produced the same 3-2 scoreline in Sochi’s favor. Denis Vengryzhanovsky, who leads Sochi for goals this term, found the net in both games.

Lada gets historic win over SKA

Another Western Conference struggler, Lada, also pulled off a memorable midweek win. The Motormen defeated SKA for the first time in KHL play, thanks to a Nikita Podskrebalin shut-out and a goal from Nikolai Makarov. The 1-0 win ended a 21-game winning streak for SKA over Lada and, as it turned out, was the end of Igor Larionov’s time as head coach.

Freak goal, part 1

It’s the kind of moment that goalies dread. Dynamo’s Mario Patalakha brought the puck to the red line and sent a routine dump down the boards into Torpedo territory. But a freakish bounce off the glass sent it bouncing crazily towards Dmitry Shugayev’s net. The play took everyone by surprise – players, officials and spectators alike – and it needed a review to confirm that the puck did not leave the playing area on its way to goal. Shugayev was non-plussed by the whole incident, but finished on the right side of a 5-4 scoreline.

Freak goal, part 2

The very next day, it was Sochi’s turn to suffer. Lokomotiv defenseman Alexander Yelesin had no thought beyond clearly his lines on the penalty kill when he lofted the puck into center ice. It fell to earth and slithered along the floor towards Pyotr Andreyanov in the Sochi net for what should have been a routine collect. But, inexplicably, the young goalie fluffed it, wafting his stick past the puck and watching in horror as it trickled into the net. That proved a key moment in the game, halting a fightback that saw Sochi go from 0-4 to 3-4 and setting Loko on the way to a 6-3 win.