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Thursday’s big games came in the Western Conference leadership race. Top dog Lokomotiv fell 0-2 at home to fourth-placed Dynamo Moscow, while Severstal moved up to second after a battling OT victory over Sochi. Torpedo could have reduced the gap between the top five to just three points, but fell to CSKA in overtime despite dominating much of that game. In the East, Traktor thrashed Lada, Salavat Yulaev returned to the top eight with a 4-2 verdict against Amur and Avtomobilist won 4-1 at Barys.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the league, our Wednesday program went into OT. The action started in Omsk, where a last-minute goal saved Avangard from defeat to Neftekhimik. The home team completed the turnaround in overtime to record a third straight win. Then, in St. Petersburg, Shanghai Dragons got the better of Spartak in a shoot-out, finishing with the same 4-3 scoreline.

Dinamo Minsk blasted seven goals to crush Dynamo Moscow with Vadim Shipachyov moving to 995 points in the 7-1 win. Avtomobilist also had a high-scoring success, beating Sibir 5-0 thanks to four points from Reid Boucher. Severstal left it late to claim a 3-1 win over CSKA and stay second in the West behind Lokomotiv, 3-2 winners over Admiral. Salavat Yulaev blew a 2-0 lead to drop a 2-4 verdict at home to Amur, and Torpedo eased to a 4-1 win over Sochi.

Monday’s KHL card featured just two games. Table-topping Metallurg defeated Neftekhimik in a shoot-out after a 3-3 tie in Magnitogorsk, before Spartak won 3-1 at Shanghai Dragons.

The Moscow derby was a goalie duel to the last: goalless through 65 minutes, Mikhail Ilyenko’s penalty shot was the first and only effort to find the net as Dynamo beat CSKA. Dinamo Minsk had no such problems, scoring seven on Lada to bounce back from a couple of losses. Sochi won 5-1 at Barys, Reid Boucher’s first power play goal of the season helped Avtomobilist beat Admiral 3-2 and Sibir held off an Amur fightback.

For the second day in a row, every KHL game went to the visitor. Ak Bars took a 2-1 verdict over Salavat Yulaev to win its second Green Derby in five days. Avangard enjoyed a 3-0 win at Lokomotiv, with Nikita Serebryakov making 33 saves. And Spartak snapped a three-game skid to beat SKA 2-1 in St. Petersburg.

The South Ural derby brought 11 goals as Metallurg won 7-4 at Traktor. Derek Barach and Sergei Tolchinsky had four-point games. And it was a good day for road teams all round. Admiral won 3-2 at Sibir as Ilnur Gizdatullin claimed his first victory as acting head coach, before Lada snapped a five-game skid with a success at Shanghai Dragons.

Today’s stories were largely about the Western Conference. Lokomotiv beat CSKA for the third time this season to extend its lead at the top. SKA took a 3-2 verdict over Ak Bars, improving to five wins from six despite the on-going absence of head coach Igor Larionov. Dynamo made Vyacheslav Kozlov’s role as head coach official, and immediately saw a seven-game winning streak halted by Barys. Severstal and Dinamo Minsk lost ground in the leadership race after losing to Avtomobilist and Salavat Yulaev respectively, and Avangard brushed aside Neftekhimik 3-0.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal since joining Metallurg, helping his team to a thumping 6-1 win at Sochi. It was his first marker since March 31 and it came in his 14th appearance of a stop-start season in Magnitogorsk. Wednesday’s other game saw Amur beat Admiral in the Far East derby.

As the KHL returned from the international break, it was derby day. The big game saw Ak Bars win 6-3 in the Green Derby against Salavat Yulaev. Dynamo Moscow posted a seventh straight win with a 1-0 success over Spartak. The Siberian derby also went to the home team, with Taylor Beck getting two assists in Sibir’s 4-2 win over Avangard. And in Petersburg, SKA beat the Dragons 4-1. Elsewhere, Lokomotiv beat Dinamo Minsk to return to the top of the Western Conference, while there were road wins for CSKA, Torpedo and Barys.

The final day of action before the international break brought goals aplenty. Avangard won a 12-goal thriller at home to Spartak, taking a 7-5 verdict. And there was a similarly high-scoring game in Chelyabinsk, where Dynamo Moscow beat Traktor 8-4 with six points for Nikita Gusev. Severstal returned to the top of the Western Conference as two goals from Adam Liska earned a 3-2 win at Lada, CSKA got back into the playoff zone thanks to a 3-1 victory in Ufa. SKA played its home game vs Amur in Khabarovsk and blew a 2-0 lead to lost in a shoot-out. Ak Bars won 3-1 at Neftekhimik, while Sibir edged a shoot-out at Barys.

Lokomotiv and SKA both completed successful visits to the Far East, securing back-to-back road wins. Maxim Shalunov, who became a dad during the week, celebrated with two goals in a 3-1 win for Loko at Admiral, while SKA left it late to snatch an OT verdict at Amur.

Dynamo goalie Maxim Motorygin completed the fourth longest shut-out streak in KHL history before he was beaten by Lada’s Andrei Altybarmakyan in the 27th minute of today’s game. Motorygin kept his goal intact for 252:04, and backstopped a 4-2 win in Togliatti. Sheldon Rempal’s four points lifted Salavat Yulaev to a first win over Ak Bars this season. The 4-1 scoreline in Ufa was repeated in Yekaterinburg, where Avtomobilist defeated Severstal. CSKA won 3-2 at Traktor, Shanghai Dragons grabbed a late goal to force overtime against Torpedo before Ilya Chefanov potted his second shoot-out winner in as many games. And there was also overtime in Nizhnekamsk, where Neftekhimik edged a 2-1 verdict over Metallurg.

Two games in the Far East brought road wins. Lokomotiv halted a three-game wobble with a 3-0 verdict at Amur, and a rare Nikolai Goldobin goal earned SKA the points at Admiral. Later in the day Avangard won 5-2 against Sochi, completing a seventh successive home victory over the Leopards.

Wednesday saw the KHL go goal crazy. Sibir and Spartak led the way, sharing 13 goals as the Red-and-Whites rallied from 0-4 to win 7-6 in OT. It was a similar story in Yekaterinburg, where Avtomobilist led 3-0 but lost 5-6 at home to Metallurg. CSKA and Torpedo played out a 4-4 tie before the visitor claimed a shoot-out verdict, Ak Bars beat Traktor 5-3 and Shanghai took a 3-2 scoreline against Salavat Yulaev. There was only one low-scoring encounter, and that saw Dynamo Moscow claim a 1-0 win at Severstal in overtime.

A shoot-out win in Khabarovsk saw Dinamo Minsk back on top of the Western Conference. One of the closest rivals for that crown, Lokomotiv, suffered an OT loss at home to SKA despite leading three times in regulation. Tuesday’s other game saw Sochi win 4-2 at Admiral.

The Western Conference has a new leader once again: Severstal moved ahead of Dinamo Minsk on a 3-2 win over Traktor. Dynamo Moscow closed on the top four with a 4-0 win over Torpedo. Salavat Yulaev secured a third straight win, edging CSKA in a shoot-out. Sibir spoiled Nikita Boyarkin’s return to action, beating Barys 4-1 in Novosibirsk.

Dinamo Minsk is the new leader in the Western Conference. Sunday’s 4-1 win at Admiral – a seventh in eight games – put the Bison one point clear of Severstal. Dmitry Kagarlitsky scored his first goal for Sochi to secure a 1-0 win at Amur, and Ak Bars proved too good for Shanghai Dragons.

Metallurg’s productive top line contributed three more goals as the league leader beat Barys 5-2 in Magnitogorsk. Maxim Denezhkin scored twice to give Avtomobilist the verdict at Sibir, and Spartak edged Lada by the odd goal in nine.

Friday brought another goal rush in the KHL. Once again, Traktor enjoyed the biggest win of the day, thumping Sochi 6-1. The highest-scoring game was in Nizhnekamsk where Neftekhimik beat Shanghai Dragons 7-5. Kevin Labanc’s hat-trick could not save his team there, and across Tatarstan Brendan Leipsic found his two goals for SKA were not enough in a 2-5 loss at Ak Bars. The top four in the Western Conference went head-to-head in Friday’s other two games and produced a pair of hard-fought encounters. It ended with Severstal on top thanks to a 2-0 win over Lokomotiv, while Dinamo Minsk won 2-1 at Torpedo.

Sheldon Rempal scored his first goals since returning to Salavat Yulaev, finishing with 2+2 in a 7-4 win at home to Barys. Metallurg’s forwards found life much more difficult, with Avangard goalie Nikita Serebryakov making 59 saves to backstop a 3-1 win. In the Moscow there were wins for Spartak, where Adam Ruzicka had three points against Avtomobilist, and CSKA, which proved too strong for Lada.

The game of the day unfolded in Nizhnekamsk, where Neftekhimik rallied from 2-5 to beat Avangard with a goal on 59:59. Lada snapped a two-game goalless run in some style, rattling in five on the road to win at Sochi for the first time. And Spartak gained some respite from its recent troubles with a hard-fought 1-0 verdict at home to Ak Bars.

Monday’s big stories came from Moscow, where SKA won at CSKA to overtake its opponent and move to eighth place in the Western Conference. Across town, Dynamo left it late to shoot down Amur and give interim head coach Vyacheslav Kozlov his first victory. Lokomotiv went back to the top of the West with a 4-1 win over Sibir.

The Western Conference has a new leader, with unfancied Severstal moving to the top thanks to Sunday’s 2-0 win over Lada. In the East, Ak Bars and Avangard kept the pressure on Metallurg; the second-placed Tatars recovered from 0-2 to win at shoot-out at Shanghai Dragons, while the Hawks crushed Barys 5-2 in Kazakhstan. Alexander Zharvosky led the way as Salavat Yulaev took a 3-1 verdict at Neftekhimik.

Yaroslavl saw the highest-scoring game of the day, but the defending champion struggled in a 4-6 loss at home to Amur. Forward Yaroslav Likhachyov, on loan from Loko to the Tigers, was among the scorers. Dinamo Minsk powered to a 6-0 demolition of Spartak in Belarus, with two goals apiece from Alex Limoges and Daniil Sotishvili. Metallurg beat Admiral in a shoot-out and Sibir won in regulation for the first time in two months, taking a 2-1 verdict at Sochi.

Friday’s KHL action brought two games in the Eastern Conference. Ak Bars went to Neftekhimik and won 3-2 in the Tatarstan derby, and Barys went to seventh in the standings thanks to a 2-1 verdict at home to Salavat Yulaev.

Six games produced 45 goals – three of them in one-goal verdicts – in a day of entertaining hockey across the KHL. Sibir took the plaudits: despite blowing a 3-1 lead at Dynamo, the Siberians won in a shoot-out to end a club record 13-game losing streak. The highest scoring game was in Chelyabinsk, where Amur beat Traktor 6-4. Metallurg took a 5-4 verdict at Avtomobilist and Dinamo Minsk scored five on CSKA. Torpedo stays second in the West with a 4-3 success at home to Spartak, and Severstal kept pace with a 3-2 overtime verdict against Admiral.

Shanghai Dragons were outplayed for long stretches of their game at Lokomotiv, but turned a 1-3 deficit into a 4-3 OT victory thanks to Kevin Labanc’s winner. In the south, Sochi defeated Salavat Yulaev at home for the first time in six years.

Tuesday saw Traktor and Dynamo Moscow play their first games after the departures of their head coaches. Both had home derby fixtures, and both were beaten. After Benoit Groulx’s resignation, Traktor lost 3-4 to Metallurg. Dynamo went down 2-4 to Spartak after Alexei Kudashov left the club. Avangard had its first shut-out win of the season, 3-0 at Lada. CSKA won 4-1 at Ak Bars. The highest-scoring encounter of the day saw Avtomobilist beat Neftekhimik 6-3, while Severstal defeated Dinamo Minsk 4-2 and Admiral won in a shoot-out at Torpedo.

An overtime goal from Maxim Shalunov lifted Lokomotiv past Salavat Yulaev. Monday’s game in Yaroslavl saw both teams hold the lead before Ufa tied it up late, but the Western Conference leader prevailed. Sibir suffered a 13th straight defeat, going down 0-3 at home to Shanghai Dragons. And Barys moved up to seventh in the East thanks to an OT win at Sochi.

SKA moved into a playoff spot in the Western Conference thanks to victory over table-topping Metallurg. The 4-3 verdict, coupled with CSKA’s overtime loss at Severstal, puts Igor Larionov’s men eighth in the standings. Dinamo Minsk won 7-3 at Ak Bars in the day’s highest-scoring game, while Avangard came from 0-2 to win 6-2 at Torpedo. The Far East derby saw Admiral win 5-2 in Khabarovsk and Ivan Bocharov’s 4-0 saves helped Lada to a 2-1 win at home to Neftekhimik.

Dynamo Moscow won 3-2 at Sibir to spoil Yaroslav Lyuzenkov’s first game as interim head coach. The 12-game losing streak equals an unwanted club record. Barys produced a shock 4-0 win at Lokomotiv to climb into the Eastern Conference playoffs. In Sochi, Max Ellis had two points against his former club in a 4-2 win over Shanghai Dragons.

A battling 3-2 win at home to CSKA put Neftekhimik up to fourth in the Eastern Conference. And on a bad night for Moscow teams, Spartak fell 3-4 at home to Severstal despite Ivan Morozov scoring on his return from suspension.

Tuesday’s action saw Ak Bars defenseman Mitch Miller get his first KHL hat-trick in a 5-4 thriller at home to Dynamo. Vitaly Kravtsov made it two goals in two games on his return to Traktor, but this time he finished on the losing side in a 2-3 reverse at Avangard.

Loko defenseman Martin Gernat had two goals, an assist and 9 PIMs in a busy evening at Spartak. The Slovak came out on top in the end as the Railwaymen won it 6-3. Dinamo Minsk crushed Sibir 7-0, recording its biggest win of the season and handing Sibir its worst loss to date. The visitor is now on an 11-game skid. Salavat Yulaev moved into the Eastern playoffs with a 2-1 verdict over SKA, Metallurg beat Lada 6-4 on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s return and Torpedo produced a third-period fightback to beat Sochi.

Tuesday’s games saw two players pot debut goals on their return to last season’s teams. First, Vitaly Kravtsov got the opener in Traktor’s 2-1 OT win at Amur on his first appearance of the season. Then Nikita Soshnikov potted the game-winner on his return to Admiral from Sibir, helping secure a 4-2 victory over Avtomobilist.

The clash of the Western Conference leaders saw Torpedo edge Lokomotiv 2-1 to draw level on points with the defending champion. Dinamo Minsk is up to third thanks to a 5-2 win over Sochi; Severstal lost ground with a 0-2 reverse at CSKA. Lada sank Salavat Yulaev with 22 seconds left in Ufa and Ak Bars claimed the Tatar derby at Neftekhimik. Shanghai Dragons won on the road at Dynamo Moscow, Spartak handed Sibir a 10th successive loss and SKA edged Avangard by a single goal.

Metallurg consolidated its position at the top of the KHL standings with a 4-1 win at Barys. Sergei Tolchinsky scored twice to lead Andrei Razin’s team. Amur captain Alexander Galchenyuk scored on his return from injury and Maxim Dorozhko blanked Avtomobilist in Khabarovsk, while Traktor took a 3-1 verdict at Admiral.

Trevor Murphy grabbed a late winner for SKA to snap Dynamo Moscow’s six-game winning streak. In Minsk, Dinamo suffered a similar fate as Alexander Trushkov stopped 49 shots to give Lada a 1-0 victory. Lokomotiv won 3-1 at home to Ak Bars, CSKA stopped the rot with a 4-0 win over struggling Sibir and Severstal took a 4-2 verdict at Shanghai Dragons.

Admiral ended an eight-game slump with an overtime win at home to Avangard, and Barys moved into the playoff spots after Tyce Thompson sank Avtomobilist in the extras to stop a five-game skid. Neftekhimik gained ground on the defeated teams thanks to 36 saves from Filipp Dolganov in a 1-0 win over Salavat Yulaev. Table topping Metallurg continues to impress, winning 3-1 at Amur.