CSKA tops the table again, Vityaz and Kunlun make history and Sergei Mozyakin keeps smashing records in Magnitogorsk. The KHL’s regular season was never short of stories and the playoffs promise even more.

Tight at the top

The race to win the KHL’s regular season title – now renamed in honour of coaching legend Viktor Tikhonov – could hardly have been closer. Russia’s two Army Clubs, CSKA Moscow and SKA St. Petersburg, were out in front all season but were almost inseparable at the top of the table.

Coming into the final week, both teams had three games left. SKA was three points clear, but CSKA had more regulation-time wins... an advantage that proved crucial. CSKA powered through the final week without dropping a point thanks to victories over HC Sochi, Torpedo and a crushing 6-1 win over Spartak to wrap it all up. SKA, surprisingly, slipped to a 2-4 home loss against Spartak, meaning the rivals finished level on points and CSKA got the verdict.

It’s the third season in a row that the Moscow team has topped the regular season table, and Dmitri Kvartalnov will be hoping that it’s third time lucky in the quest for the Gagarin Cup. In 2015, CSKA lost out to SKA in the Western Conference final, last season ended in a grand final defeat at the hands of Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Will 2017 bring Russia’s biggest prize to the Army Men at last?

Playoff debuts

Two clubs will make their first KHL playoff appearances this week – but their paths to post-season have been very different. China-based Kunlun Red Star only came into existence over the summer, and completed a successful debut season by coming eighth in the Eastern Conference and advancing straight to the playoffs. For more about pro hockey in Beijing check out tomorrow’s feature on IIHF.com.

But the other playoff newcomer, Vityaz, has been in the KHL since it all began in 2008/09. Eight times the Moscow Region team failed to finish in a playoff place, and along the way it attracted criticism for an over-reliance on enforcers who racked up the penalty minutes but contributed few points. Notoriously, its game at Avangard in January 2010 had to be abandoned after a bench-clearing brawl in the opening minutes.

The arrival of Valeri Belov, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s right-hand man at Ak Bars for many years, changed all that. Belov was part of the Vityaz team that played in the Russian Superliga playoffs, and set about changing the club’s identity. Led by a revitalized Maxim Afinogenov, whose 47 points this season represent his most productive KHL campaign at the age of 37, the team has impressed with its hockey. Key summer signings included experienced former Sibir captain Alexei Kopeikin, two-way Czech D-man Jakub Jerabek and promising Finnish centre Miro Aaltonen, a trio that contributed 129 points between them.

Vityaz starts its playoff push against Oleg Znarok’s SKA; Russia’s national team head coach might have cause to remember the sensation he caused in 2010 with another Moscow Region team, MVD, which he took from nowhere to the Gagarin Cup final.

Mozyakin closes on his millennium

The season’s scoring race was all about Sergei Mozyakin, who seemed to set records a-tumble almost every week. The Metallurg Magnitogorsk man was not content with beating Boris Mikhailov’s all-time Russian scoring record of 428 goals. He went on to set new KHL marks for goals and points harvested in a singular regular season as he racked up 48 goals and 85 points. That beat Steve Moses’ 36-goal return for Jokerit in 2015 and Alexander Radulov’s 80-point season with Salavat Yulayev’s 2011 champion roster. As the playoffs begin, Mozyakin is on 999 points, one short of becoming the first man ever to score 1,000 points in top level Russian or Soviet hockey.

The other scoring feats belonged to SKA, though. Mozyakin’s four closest rivals in the scoring race all play in Petersburg. Ilya Kovalchuk was back to his best after last season’s loss of form, and posted 78 points, Vadim Shipachyov had 76 despite missing 10 games. Nikita Gusev (71) and Yevgeni Dadonov (68) also made the top five in the scoring charts. It all added up to two team records for SKA – a total tally of 249 goals was the best ever for the KHL, while the goal differential of +135 also broke new ground.

While Russian forwards dominated the scoring, Nigel Dawes, the Canadian-born Kazakh international at Barys, became the highest-scoring foreign player in KHL history. His 36-goal haul took him to 175 goals in the competition, ahead of team-mate Brandon Bochenski’s 160.

Another ‘Green derby’ awaits

One of the KHL’s biggest rivalries is set for another edition in the opening round of the playoffs as Ak Bars and Salavat Yulayev face off once again. But for Igor Zakharkin’s team in Ufa, making post season proved more stressful than usual.

Salavat had never previously missed out on the KHL playoffs but came into the last week of the regular season knowing that even victories in its two remaining games might not be enough if other results went against it. In the event, the stuttering form of its rivals, coupled with wins over Ak Bars and Lada, took the team to sixth and eased the pain of a nine-game losing streak that placed the team in trouble.

Now the stage is set for an intriguing showdown between two of Russia’s brightest young talents. Ak Bars’ Vladimir Tkachyov has broken onto the international scene this season and earned his first All-Star call-up, while Salavat’s Kirill Kaprizov monstered the World Juniors and slotted effortlessly into a club roster that boasts the offensive talents of Linus Omark and Teemu Hartikainen. With his Nordic colleagues struggling for fitness, Kaprizov carries the weight of expectation for his team in the playoffs, while Ak Bars looks to avenge its game seven defeat in Ufa at this stage last season.

Playoff schedule

The KHL playoffs start on Tuesday in the Western Conference and Wednesday in the East. Each series will be a best-of-seven affair. The playoffs culminate with the Gagarin Cup final, which is scheduled to start on Friday, 7 April.

The first-round match-ups are:

Western Conference – (1) CSKA Moscow vs (8) Jokerit Helsinki; (2) SKA St. Petersburg vs (7) Vityaz Moscow Region; (3) Dynamo Moscow vs (6) Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod; (4) Lokomotiv Yaroslavl vs (5) Dynamo Minsk.

Eastern Conference – (1) Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs (8) Kunlun Red Star; (2) Avangard Omsk vs (7) Admiral Vladivostok; (3) Ak Bars Kazan vs (6) Salavat Yulayev Ufa; (4) Traktor Chelyabinsk vs (5) Barys Astana.

ANDY POTTS