New eras for two clubs, hot streaks turn cold

SKA and Metallurg both began life under new full-time head coaches this week – with contrasting results. Elsewhere, the KHL’s hottest streaks came to an end, and Justin Bailey went back to the top of the scoring chart.

New head coach for Magnitka

Konstantin Shafranov is the new head coach at Metallurg. He was appointed last week, and got off to a winning start with a 5-1 victory at home to Sibir on Saturday. Shafranov, 58, played for the Steelmen in the 1990s, and also spent several seasons in North America, including a brief NHL career at St Louis. His first coaching role came in the ECHL, but in recent years he has worked as an assistant coach on several KHL teams. Most notably, he was part of Bob Hartley’s cup-winning staff at Avangard in 2021.

Mixed start for Razin

Shafranov’s predecessor at Metallurg, Andrei Razin, had a mixed start to life with SKA. His first game, after just one practice with his new team, ended in defeat at home to Avtomobilist. That was a sixth straight loss for the Petersburg club, although Vladislav Syomin’s goal midway through the second period at least ended a 160-minute wait for a goal.

Game two brought Razin’s first victory, and this time goals were not a problem. SKA took an early lead, but then allowed three goals in quick succession as Sibir built a 3-1 lead. However, by the 17th minute of the first period, the home team was back in front. That lead was never challenged, and the game ended 6-3 to Razin’s new charges.

Pelino back in KHL

Mike Pelino, who has been involved in the coaching staff on three Gagarin Cup-winning teams, has joined Avtomobilist. The Canadian first came to Russia in the 2013/2014 season as assistant to Mike Keenan at Metallurg. He was assistant on two championship teams in Magnitogorsk – 2014 and 2016. Later he had spells at Lokomotiv and Ak Bars, returning to Yaroslavl last February to join Bob Hartley’s title-winning team. His role in Yekaterinburg is expected to involving improve a stuttering power play: the Motormen are just 12.1% with an extra man, the second worst ratio in the league at the time of Pelino’s appointment.

Panin’s millennium

Salavat Yulaev captain Grigory Panin became the sixth man to play 1,000 KHL games on Monday. He’s also the second defenseman to reach that landmark, following Evgeny Biryukov, who was the first player to reach four figures. Panin is also one of four who have played in all 19 KHL seasons to date. But his big day ended in defeat: Nikita Boyarkin blanked the Ufa offense, and Borna Rendulic’s debut goal helped Admiral to a 2-0 win.

Streaks end

CSKA and Severstal came into last week defending impressive winning streaks. But both came to an end. It was unlucky 13 for the Muscovites, defied by their former goalie Ivan Fedotov as a 2-0 loss at Spartak halted a 12-game hot streak on Wednesday. The same night saw Severstal fall at home to Shanghai Dragons after seven straight wins. That left Spartak on the hottest streak in the league, but their six-game run cooled on Sunday with a defeat at home to Shanghai Dragons. Now the Chinese franchise is the league’s form team after winning four in a row.

Club records

Neftekhimik’s 1-0 win at defending champion Lokomotiv was a memorable night for Oleg Grishin’s outsiders. Andrei Belozyorov potted the only goal in the 49th minute, moving to 92 for the Tatar club and overtaking the record set by Igor Polyganov in 2017. Admiral’s captain Libor Sulak also put his name in the history books. He had a hand in every goal the Sailors scored in a 5-3 win over Barys on Tuesday, becoming the first Admiral player to pick up five points in a game.

Bailey back on top

Barys forward Justin Bailey had 1+1 in that game in Vladivostok, moving to 21 points for the season and regaining first place in the KHL scoring race. He’s two points clear of SKA’s Nikolai Goldobin and Dinamo Minsk’s Chris Tierney, with Andrei Belozyorov a further point back.