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Lokomotiv missed the chance to book its playoff ticket ahead of all the rest. A 1-2 loss at home to struggling Vityaz means Igor Nikitin’s team must wait to formally confirm its post season. SKA also suffered a surprise defeat, going down 2-3 at Severstal. And Spartak’s dismal recent form continued with a 2-6 reverse at home to Metallurg. There was a high-scoring game for Salavat Yulaev, winning 5-3 at Kunlun Red Star, while Admiral put five past Sibir to snap a seven-game skid. The other action brought victories for Dinamo Minsk and Ak Bars.

Among the KHL’s leading Czech players of the last 12 years, we find two brothers at opposite ends of the ice, multiple Gagarin Cup winners and a clutch of players from the only non-Russian team to a reach a Grand Final.

Earlier in this series, we looked at the imports who enjoyed the most productive KHL seasons compared with their compatriots. Today the talk is about Finland, a country that gave the league high-level goalies, smooth defensemen, and an elevate number of Gagarin Cup winners.

Some of the biggest names in Slovak hockey — Pavol Demitra, Miroslav Satan — have played in the KHL. However, they don’t feature on the list of Slovakia’s All-Time leaders in the KHL. For Satan, his spells with Dynamo Moscow and Slovan Bratislava were late in his illustrious career; for Demitra, tragically, his time at Lokomotiv was cut short after one brilliant season. But Slovakia has contributed many more fine players to the KHL — from Spartak’s contingent in the early years to the Red-and-Whites’ current goalie via several stars who represented Slovan.

Earlier in this series we looked at the imports who enjoyed the most productive KHL seasons compared with their compatriots. Now we’re moving on to record the All-Time leaders from each country represented in the league. Once again, we’re starting with Canada — a land that supplies us with long-serving goalies, prolific defensemen and the highest-scoring import in the KHL era. Many of the players listed here have settled for long enough to take dual citizenship and represent the likes of Belarus and Kazakhstan in World Championship play but, for the purposes of these articles, we’re interested in players’ countries of origin.

Continuing our rundown of the KHL’s top players in each position. 12 seasons, 12 players. Today we’re going on with defensemen with Sami Lepisto and Denis Kulyash.

Lokomotiv’s unstoppable attack, Traktor’s path to the silver medal, and the best finals in the KHL history.

As the remaining clubs approach the halfway stage on the journey to the Gagarin Cup final, we take this opportunity to recall some of the most exciting and unpredictable series we have witnessed over the ten seasons of the KHL.

Ivano Zanatta, the much-traveled Canadian who is currently assistant coach of HC Sochi, spoke to KHL.ru about his hockey beginnings with his Italian family, his experiences in Russia and the KHL, and his time working Fabio Capello and Silvio Berlusconi.