Ak Bars continue to fly

21 Sep 2013 | Matt Tidcombe

Ak Bars Kazan continue to fly up the KHL standings after yet another solid week. The club went 2-1 and currently sit second in their division and third in the conference.

Ak Bars finished a four game homestand at home to Avangard Omsk Region and completed it in style with a 6-0 romp.

Shaun Heshka, Alex Burmistrov, Tim Stapleton, Ilya Nikulin and Janne Pesonen all had two points each, while Emil Garipov made 27 saves to record the shutout.

Their good form continued on the road as Ak Bars picked up their first road win of the season with a 3-1 win against Latvian side Dinamo Riga.

Ak Bars took a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Pesonen, Burmistrov and Heshka before the mid-point of the game and put it into cruise control over the last 30 minutes to take the two points. Stapleton added two helpers while Konstantin Barulin made 24 saves in goal.

However, Ak Bars five game winning streak ended at the hands of CSKA Moscow. Ak Bars were shutout for the first time this season as Rastislav Stana made 23 saves in goal. Barulin made 30 saves for AK Bars, but goals from Igor Grigorenko and Ilari Filppula proved to be the difference.

Ak Bars have 13 points from their seven games this season and trail Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk by one point in the Kharlamov division.

Heshka leads all Ak Bars players in points with eight, as the defenseman has notched four goals and four assists, and he also leads the KHL for points by a defenseman, while being tied in first for goals.

Burmistrov and Stapleton are both producing at a point-a-game ratio, while Pesonen and Kirill Petrov have five points each.

Garipov has a 0.99 GAA through his two starts, both of which were wins. Barulin is 2-2-1 for the season and has a 1.97 GAA.

Six wins from six for Bars Kazan

Ak Bars Kazan’s Junior team Bars Kazan continues to dominate the MHL as they have still yet to lose a game this season.

Bars has eighteen points and sit in first place in the Povolzhye Division. They picked up home wins over Kuznetskie Medvedi Novokuznetsk (5-0) and Kristall Berdsk (4-1) over the last week.

Timur Bilyalov and Evgeny Yaroslavlev continue to share duties in goal for Bars as they each have three starts and three wins. Yaroslavlev has a 0.67 GAA, while Bilyalov has a 1.37 GAA.

Viktor Shakhvorostov continues to lead the team in points as he has seven, three of which are goals while Evgeny Svechnikov has five points.