HC Sochi were able to get a lot out of Mikhail Berdin the past week, the netminder posted a combined statline of 72/75 (.960 SV%) in two home matchups against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, including a very impressive 41/42 in the back-end of that mini-series taking plays on Wed, Feb 14th and Fri, Feb 16th. Ultimately, Sochi won both games, by scores of 3-2 and 3-1, as they were able to influence the race against their Western Conference peers despite their status as now-playoff outsiders. They did not get much out of their top three leading forwards in point-scoring in these two games as they had just two points between them (both by Michal Kristof, as Artur Tyanulin and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov had nothing to their names with the lattermost seeing his point drought go to three), but their depth stepped up big time to give Berdin the necessary support. Today (Sun, Feb 18th), they were not as competitive against interconference foes Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, as they mustered just 12 shots on goal while netminder Nikita Bogdanov allowed 2 goals on 33 SOG, which was enough for Avtomobilist to get the victory. Michkov did get back in the points column with an impressive tuck goal and we saw him create some chances for his line in his TOI, but as can be inferred, they looked neutralized out there for most of the proceedings. They have one more road game, against Kunlun Red Star (Tue, Feb 20th), before they finish out their season with the back-half of the home-and-home against Kunlun (Fri, Feb 23rd) and an interconference game against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk on Sun, Feb 25th. Hopefully, head coach Dmitry Kokorev’s group can remain in strong form to at least shore up their points total and Michkov can build upon his impressive accomplishments this season with a few more solid performances and expansion upon his already existing record for D+1 points in a KHL season.

SKA Saint Petersburg, meanwhile, had two Eastern Conference opponents visit their home barn this past week. They were able to brush off both, defeating Lada Togliatti in a game where they out-shot the surprising emergent Eastern Conference squad (who today clinched their first postseason berth in 15 years) 42-25, but ultimately had to squeak by on a third period GWG by Mikhail Vorobyov with 4:50 remaining in regulation. Roman Rotenberg’s group followed this up with a 2-0 shutout triumph over Salavat Yulaev Ufa wherein Nikita Serebryakov stopped 36 SOGs for his fifth clean sheet of the season. The most noteworthy highlight was the second goal, wherein Stepan Starkov while taking a tumble to the ice headed past the net was able to get significant elevation on a rebound and put it past Ufa goaltender Ilya Ezhov. Truly an impressive highlight from someone not known for flashy displays of skill.

Today, SKA had their own matchup with Torpedo, and they were notably a man down as Carolina Hurricanes prospect Alexander Nikishin. While the blueliner only tallied one assist in the previous two matchups, they were sans one of the best two-way players in the league, and it looked as though they might have missed him out there. SKA fell into a 3-1 hole early into the third period but struck back with three answered goals by Nikolai Polyakov, Marat Khairullin, and Maxim Fedotov. The comeback was in danger of being thwarted as Devils prospect Arseni Gritsyuk was called for a trip on a questionable call, therefore negating what would have been the dagger of an ENG and putting Torpedo on an effective 6-on-4 with enough time to tie it up. However, SKA withstood the ensuing efforts and held on to get the dub. Rotenberg’s group will next play Severstal Cherepovets on Tuesday in another regular season home game (and a chance to make their record 5-0-0 at the new SKA Arena), followed by a trip to Belarus and a preview of their likely first round matchup against Philadelphia Flyers goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov’s Dinamo Minsk squad on Friday and wrap the regular season up a week from today with a game against Western Conference minnows Kunlun Red Star. While it is not a fait accompli, one does have to imagine that they likely will run the table and keep their number one Gagarin Cup playoffs seed and defend their Continental Cup title. Let us see if they maintain their dominant form.