Ak Bars surging on

They sit second in the East Conference on 20 points and only Barys by one point while maintaining a three point lead in the Kharlamov Division over Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

They had to work hard though as Ak Bars only managed to score four goals in their three games but were able to muster two wins out if it because of superb goaltending by Konstantin Barulin and Emil Garipov.

The week got off to a losing start however, but Ak Bars picked up a point in the overtime loss as they were beaten 2-1 on the road by Slovan Bratislava. Milan Bartovic scored his second goal of the game and the OT winner 2:51 into the extra frame. Bartovic had given Slovan the lead in the first period, but Alexander Svitov tied the game with 10 minutes left.

A 2-1 win two days later over Lev Prague got Ak Bars back to their winning ways. It was the Janne Pesonen show as he scored both goals. The first came 7:57 into the first before doubling the Ak Bars lead just over half way through the game. Alexei Tereshchenko had assists on both goals in one his better games of the season.

Ak Bars returned home and made it two straight wins with a 1-0 victory Friday evening against Severstal Cherepovets. The only goal of the game came after quarter of an hour as Konstantin Korneyev scored his first goal of the season.

Barulin was the highlight of the game though as he stopped all 24 shots to record his first shutout of the season.

It was a quiet week offensively for many of Ak Bars stars, as Alex Burmistrov, Shaun Heshka and Tim Stapleton were held pointless. Pesonen picked up the slack somewhat, as the did the third and fourth lines. 

The impressive week by Barulin and Garipov shows in their stats. Barulin has a 1.56 GAA while Garipov has a 1.30 GAA and each have a shutout this season.

Bars Kazan lose first game of the season

It took eight games, but Bars Kazan have finally lost.

After an seven game winning streak to begin the season, Bars Kazan have lost two straight as they were beaten 4-3 in a shootout on Monday by Mamonty Yugry (Khanty-Mansiysk) before losing 6-4 at home to Omskie Yastreby (Omsk Region) Saturday.  

In a stacked Eastern Conference, Bars sit in fifth place, while they sit third in the Povolzhye Division despite their strong start.

Offensively, Bars have no players in the top 10 in scoring, highlighting their willingness to spread the offense around. Viktor Shakhvorostov still leads the team in points with eight, as he has four goals and four helpers.

However, their two goaltenders, Timur Bilyalov and Evgeny Yaroslavlev, are both in the top 10 GAA leaders. Bilyalov has a 1.39 GAA while Yaroslavlev has a 1.75 GAA. In five starts, Bilyalov has still not lost in regulation while putting up a 94.4 save percentage.

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