SKA Saint Petersburg have had a dominant stretch as of late and have put themselves in a position wherein they may be able to defend their Continental Cup crown, as they are now first place in the Western Conference and just three points behind Eastern juggernauts Metallurg Magnitogorsk for first in the KHL. SKA earned two big statement victories this week, defeating Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3-0 on Monday, the 29th, in a game determined largely by their dominant second period performance. D Alexander Nikishin (CAR, 69th overall, 2020 NHL Entry Draft) tallied two goals in this match, with G Nikita Serebryakov (who has proven to be a wonderful in-season acquisition from Admiral Vladivostok and shown why he won the Best Goalie award last season) making 28 saves to earn the shutout. Subsequently, on Friday, the 2nd, they defeated Army Derby rivals CSKA Moscow 2-1, to complete the six game sweep against their classic adversaries, completing a great response to CSKA ending their season in the Western Conference Finals last year. This was another great game by Serebryakov, as he stopped 30 of 31 in his backstopping of his “new” team to a historic win. This was a great week for Roman Rotenberg’s squad, as they asserted themselves against two playoff teams to make their dominance all the more apparent. They will look to continue this form against Eastern Conference foes Salavat Yulaev Ufa tomorrow.

HC Sochi, meanwhile, had a pretty dramatic week from a different angle. Their run of good results has largely continued, but the on-ice personnel situation has gotten interesting for behind the scenes reasons. Following up their impressive comeback effort on Sunday against Kunlun Red Star by playing them again the next day, they lost 4-2 in a game that simply did not play out well, particularly for their first line. Continuing to play on the first unit alongside C and captain Marat Khusnutdinov (MIN, 37th overall, 2020), RW Matvei Michkov (PHI, 7th overall, 2023) had a game to forget, posting a -4. Subsequently, per HockeyNewsHub on Twitter/X, head coach Dmitry Kokorev made the decision to not only bench him but send him to the locker room, with the understanding that Michkov needs to work on his defensive play. It is presumed that it was for this reason he was healthy scratched against Dinamo Minsk on Wednesday, the 31st. He was not particularly missed in this game, as Minsk G Dylan Ferguson was chased upon allowing 2 goals on Sochi’s first 6 SOGs. Alexei Kolosov would subsequently be saddled with the loss despite faring better (stopping 10/11) as Minsk would fall 3-2 to Sochi. “Leopards” winger Sergei Popov tallied 1g+1a in this game, while G Mikhail Berdin stopped 33 of 35 in a standout showing between the pipes. HC Sochi will play again on Tuesday against Vityaz Moscow Region. It should be curious to see if Michkov is back in the lineup and has received and processed the message sent to him by Kokorev.