Dreaming of early gifts

25 December 2023

The KHL is fast approaching the New Year break. That’s traditionally a time for good food, generous gifts and hopes for the future. The Dragons certainly have plenty to hope four: the playoffs remain within reach, as Red Star sits five points behind eighth-placed Dinamo Minsk going into the final action of 2023. With three games before the holiday, a good run of results could eat up that deficit. It’s not the easiest of tasks, but there’s magic in the air at this time.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (h), Dec. 26, 1930 Moscow Time

Last time out: Tuesday’s game is our fourth meeting of the season. The first three went to Lokomotiv, but after a 0-4 loss on home ice, the Dragons pushed the Railwaymen hard on the road, going down 1-2 and 4-5.

Familiar faces: TeemuPulkkinen spent half a season with Lokomotiv in 2020/21. Our Finnish forward arrived from Dynamo Moscow and helped his new team-mates to the playoffs. In post-season, he had 9 (7+2) points in 11 games.In addition, goalie Alexander Lazushin made his first KHL appearances for Loko in the 2010 playoffs, and also featured on the team in the 2019/20 season, shortly after his first spell with the Dragons.

Background: Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Lokomotiv lies third in the Western Conference. However, it has played three games less than Dynamo and Spartak and, in terms of PPG, is the most effective team in the section right now. Igor Nikitin’s team is built around consistency and discipline, and those virtues have the Railwaymen on a run of five wins from six games. That, apart from an isolated wobble in October that brought four straight losses, has been pretty much the story of the season in Yaroslavl. This team plays winning hockey, and defeats are isolated occurrences.

Not surprisingly, Loko goalie Daniil Isayev is getting good write-ups this season. His GAA of 1.77 places third in the league, while a 93% save ratio is just outside the top five. Maxim Shalunov leads the scoring with 27 (13+14) points, while two graduates of the hugely productive Yaroslavl hockey school are also in good form. Artur Kayumov, 25, has spent his entire career with Loko and is on a good scoring run of late. Yaroslav Likhachyov is just 22, but he is continuing his prolific performances after a breakout year on loan at Amur last term.

Severstal Cherepovets (a), Dec. 28, 1900 Moscow Time

Last time out: Our back-to-back meetings in Mytishchi brought two losses back in November (1-3, 3-4 SO). However, our last trip to Cherepovets was more fun as goals from Tyler Wong, Brandon Yip and Tomas Jurco secured a 3-2 win.

Familiar faces: None

Background: Severstal was facing something of a transition this season. Under Andrei Razin (more of him in our next game), the team was a playoff regular. Now, after Andrei Kozyrev stepped into the hot seat, it’s time to see what the next generation can deliver. Kozyrev saw several key players from Razin’s team leave, and also watched the likes of Daniil Vovchenko struggle to find a role in the new system. Vovchenko recently rejoined Razin at Metallurg, highlighting the change under the new management.

One player to watch is Kirill Pilipenko. With 39 (22+17) points, he leads the team in scoring ahead of rising star Danil Aimurzin. Pilipenko is on a hot streak just now, with points in his last four games and in 13 of his last 14.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk (a), Dec. 30, 1230 Moscow Time

Last time out: Back in September the Dragons enjoyed a shoot-out win at home to Magnitka. Despite falling down by two goals midway through the first period, our guys hit back in the third with Brandon Yip and Zac Leslie on target. Luke Lockhart potted the decider in the shoot-out.

Familiar faces: Metallurg goalie Artyom Zagidulin got his first real taste of the KHL during our first season in the league. His loan spell with us was a success, but this season he is battling with young Ilya Nabokov for the starting role.

Background: Eastern Conference leader Metallurg is doing well under the leadership of Andrei Razin. The former Severstal head coach moved to Magnitogorsk in the hope of building a team that could compete at the highest level and, so far, that’s working well for him. Although a recent four-game skid enabled the chasing pack to close in, a 3-2 win in Omsk in the most recent outing keeps the Steelmen in top spot.

Young forward Nikita Grebyonkin, 20, was one of the big discoveries last season when he impressed on loan at Amur. Now back with his home team, he’s continuing to make an impact and has 20 points this season. But this forward line shares its scoring around, with five other players already on 20+ for the season. Apart from that group, American center Luke Johnson is in a rich vein of form, scoring three goals in two games since the return from the international break.