Eight
teams in the East are set for the playoffs. The best teams from the Eastern
part of the KHL are ready to commence their playoff campaign on their way to the
Finals. But it's only one thing they're all craving for - the Gagarin Cup.
Metallurg
Magnitogorsk - Admiral Vladivostok
Metallurg
entered the playoffs as the Eastern Conference leader and will have to compete
with the league's newcomers - Admiral. Surprisingly or not, the Far Eastern
team made the playoffs in their first season in spite of departures of some of
their key players - solid defensemen Anton Poleshchuk (Avangard) and Mathias Porseland
(Vityaz) and classy scorer and captain Enver Lisin (CSKA) being the most
important.
Nothing
needs to be said about Magnitogorsk. They're a solid, offensive team looking to
score a lot and neutralize the opponent in the neutral zone keeping them at
bay. Sure having Chris Lee on the injury reserve can't help. Lee is their top
defenseman with 31 points this season, and more importantly +18 on the ice,
only behind Viktor Antipin with +27. League's
best offense Mozyakin-Kovar-Zaripov accumulated 205 points thus far in
the season, 82 of those points being goals.
In
two games this season these two played against each other, the home team won.
Admiral were better in Vladivostok 2:1, while Metallurg hammered the opposition
4:1. Both teams ended the regular season with three wins in a row, both at
home.
What's
for goalies, Vasily Koshechkin of Metallurg looks like a fort in net, allowing
only 1.88 goals on average per game. Evgeny Ivannikov on the other side does
merely as well with 1.98 GAA, but Koshechkin has had 9 shutouts, breaking the
league's record.
Key players:
MMG
- Sergei Mozyakin - top scorer and the hottest scorer in the last six games,
having scored 4 goals.
ADM
- Felix Schutz - Felix got the edge over Ivannikov as he comes back to life
lately in terms of scoring and will probably have to be the leader in the games
to come.
Key factor:
DEFENCE
- let's be blunt - defence wins championships, and that is one part Admiral
might be most vulnerable at. Metallurg are a highly offensive team, while
Admiral's defence should step up for a more convincing game in order to surpass
the Eastern leader.
Barys
Astana - Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg
For
some time, not so long ago, people used to say: "The KHL is the only place
in the world where Traktor beats an Automobile." Well, not anymore. Traktor
is well behind, while Avtomobilist made the playoffs and are looking forward to
meeting Barys of Kazakhstan.
Despite
Barys being a superpower this season, like in the previous pairing, the home
team won in each of their head-to-head games this season. Actually, they
hammered the visitor. Avto took the 6-2 win in Ekaterinburg, while Barys stroke
back 7-2 in Astana.
The
only key departure for Barys was that of Josh Gratton in mid-December, but they
managed to bring Zach Hamill from the AHL to strengthen the offense and
Kristian Kudroc to tighten up the defence. Though Hamill only had 3 points in
13 games. Kudroc is currently on injury reserve indefinitely, but that won't
mean much. Barys are quality enough. Avtomobilist are an average KHL team that
could pose a threat to any opposing sides and surprise in this series. Their
main strength is their defence, while they put some more depth in their offense
with the arrival of Nikita Vyglazov from Novokuznetsk, just before the trade
deadline. Jakub Kovar's goaltending has been solid, but he'll have to explode
in these games to come and save the net while Bochenski, Dawes, Boyd or
Starchenko will come down heavily on him.
Key players:
BAR
- Bochenski-Dawes-Boyd - his line has it all: speed, versatility, balance and
goal scoring instinct. If Barys are to go down the aisle long term, this is the
line to bring them there.
AVT:
Sami Lepistö - well, this guy is experienced in the NHL and in Europe. Being
offensive minded helps the offense a lot and moves the puck well, but also
steps up before the net cutting down promising opposing chances.
Key factor:
Again it's defence and again it's the lower seeded team's. Barys will come down
in numbers, Avtomobilist are those to seek their opportunities on breaks.
Ak
Bars Kazan - Sibir Novosibirsk
Sibir
finished sixth, their best overall record in the KHL thus far. 29 wins from 54
games. Ak Bars on the other hand were dominant in the standings, leading a
battle with Barys who takes #1 before Metallurg emerged and dealt with the
problem.
Going
head-to-head they're tied at 1 once again. Looking solely at the H2H stats, all
the series should be highly evenly matched and it wouldn't surprise anyone if
all of them went to 5+ games to determine the winner.
This
series will be all about the netminders. Konstantin Barulin on one side and
Mikko Koskinen on the other. Koskinen was more solid - only 1.70 goals per game
allower and a high 93.9 SVS% together with 3 shutouts. Barulin had 5, but also
allowed 2.06 goals. Sibir were better ending the season with 4 wins in 6 games,
while Bars obviously played more relaxed having secured a high spot in the
standings.
Alexander
Burmistrov leads the Kazan side with 37 points (10+27) followed by Tim
Stapleton with 33 (16+17). The Finnish connection in Novosibirsk seems to be
working perfectly. Jori Lehtera snapped up 44 points this season and Jonas
Enlund 33, the two being most effective against the opposition defences.
Key players:
AKB
- Konstantin Barulin - When he's playing well Ak Bars win and have nothing to
be afraid of.
SIB
- Mikko Koskinen - Another goalie, probably among the best in the league, in
the top 5 to be exactly.
Key factor:
Offensive productivity - Whoever manages to break through the goalies first or
score early might take the edge in every game. With goaltending like these two
have, every goal counts as double.
Salavat
Yulaev Ufa - Torpedo Nizhniy Novgorod
Salavat
and Torpedo ended the season with the same number of points - 94. After
finishing so high, both of these teams are expected to put up a proper fight
and drag on with it until the last drop of blood.
Salavat
are productive both ways - Kirill Koltsov scored 11 goals as a defenceman,
while the leading forward has the same number of goals. Igor Mironov and Teemu
Hartikainen are also a threat for any defence. As for goalies, Salavat have a
bunch but it's expected they'll play either Andrei Vasilevsky or Alexei Volkov.
Looking at Vasilevsky's numbers he should get the edge - 92.3 %, 2.21 GAA and 3
shutouts.
In
Torpedo's defence they have Juuso Hietanen, an offensive minded defenceman and
a good assister, and down the ice can count on Sakari Salminen (18+29), Wojtek
Wolski (19+19) and Jarkko Immonen (14+24). Georgy Gelashvili is expected to
stand between the pipes over Vitaly Koval. Gelashvili goes as low as 1.60 GAA,
93.9 SVS% and 5 shutouts. Impressive
numbers.
Key players:
UFA
- Kirill Koltsov - When this guys steps up in the game, the offense feels more
relaxed playing so they're prone to score more often. Also he's a great distributer
and eases the job in the offensive zone.
TOR
- Defence - Torpedo's defence is more than just solid and together with
Gelashvili in the mood, they can make anything happen. They'll for sure be
quite tough to beat.
Key factor:
Powerplay - The special teams value now the most. And Torpedo is 4th in the KHL
when playing with a man up. Salavat is only 14th. In a close series like this,
powerplay units could be the turning factor.
The
playoffs in the Eastern Conference start Saturday, March 8th and continue these
dates: March 8, 9, 11, 12 and if necessary 14, 16 and 18.