Vyacheslav Bykov's Salavat Yulaev Ufa, the strong contender to win the Gagarin Cup, appears to finally have found the rhythm. The team of Bashkortostan is on a five game winning streak and hasn't suffered a regular defeat since 5 October (2-4 vs Spartak). The five game streak includes victories over strong KHL teams such as CSKA, SKA St. Petersburg and Atlant Mytischy. In the five games, Salavat has outscored its opponents 29:6. Yesterday, Salavat skated to another impressive win, beating Atlant Mytischy 6-0 in front of a capacity crowd in Mytischy. Defenseman, Dmitri Kalinin produced an amazing +6 in thia game and that's a new record in the KHL. Besides strong defense, one key to Salavat's succes is that the top line with Patrick Thoresen, Sergei Zinoviev and Aleksandr Radulov has been clicking lately. During the winning streak, this line has combined for nearly half of Salavat's goals. Salavat leads the KHL by far in terms of goals for and shots on goal. Radulov has produced points in Salavat's latest 8 games.

Two other red hot teams in the KHL are Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. In early October, both teams hovered around the playoff mark in the lower end of the table. Dynamo Moscow's head coach, Sergei Kotov resigned on 30 September after another defeat to Severstal Cherepovets. Since Andrei Khomutov assumed the position as head coach, Dynamo Moscow has won 9 in 11 games. The team is  on a six game winning streak and hasn't lost since 10 October (1-3 vs Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg). The streak includes impressive victories over Metallurg Magnitogorsk and SKA St. Petersburg, the alpha dogs of the two conferences. The  six game winning streak is the 'Blue & White's best since the 2000-01 season. During the streak, Dynamo has been led by Mattias Weinhandl and Jiri Hudler (9 points each). Weinhandl  leads to scoring leaders in the KHL while Jiri Hudler has climbed to the third position on that list.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is on a five game winning streak though one game was won in OT. Besides beating SKA (4-1), Lokomotiv has four wins against other teams of the Tarasov division. During the streak, Lokomotiv has outscored its opponents 21:7. Unlike Salavat and Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv has relied on a more balanced offense.

Atlant Mytischy, the other top-seeded team of the Tarasov division, is in crisis. The team has lost 6 of its last 9 games, and yesterday, Atlant suffered its biggest defeat since moving to Mytischy. Atlant's biggest defeat ever (0:8 to CSKA) dates back to October 2005 at the time the team was playing at Voskresensk.

Torpedo Nizhny-Novgorod, another team of the Tarasov division, has lost its last four games straight, and two days ago, headcoach Evgeni Popikhin became the 4th coach to resign from his post. Sergei Mikhalev has been appointed as new head coach. Mikhalev worked with Salavat last season and was previously the headcoach of Severstal.  The three other teams that have changed coaches in the first 1/3 of the season are Amur, Dynamo Moscow and Dynamo Minsk.

Players of the week 19-25 October 2009

Goaltender: Karri Rämö (Avangard). Rämö has found his game since returning to the bigger KHL rink and produced two shutouts in three games last week. Rämö has keep his cage clean in the last 138 min. and 37 seconds.

Defenseman: Kevin Dallman (Barys). Last season's best KHL defenseman entered the player of the week list for the first time this season. In three games, Dallman produced 5 points (1+4) and a +3 rating.

Forward: Josef Vasicek (Lokomotiv). Last week, Vasicek scored 3 goals, two of which were game winning goals.

Rookie: Aleksandr Streltsov (19, Avtomobilist) scored one goal and a +2 rating.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

EASTERN CONFERENCE

SCORING LEADERS

				GP	G	A	P
1.		Mattias Weinhandl	Dynamo Moscow	20	13	14	27
2.		Alexei Yashin	SKA St. Petersburg	19	17	16	23
3.		Jiri Hudler	Dynamo Moscow	20	8	14	22
4.		Aleksandr Radulov	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	18	8	14	22
5.		Sergei Zinoviev	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	20	5	16	21
6.		Maksim Sushinsky	SKA St. Petersburg	19	6	14	20
7.		Marcel Hossa	Dinamo Riga	18	11	17	18
8.		Josef Vasicek	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	18	10	8	18
9.		Jozef Stumpel	Barys Astana	19	6	12	18
10.		Nils Ekman	SKA St. Petersburg	16	3	15	18

GOALTENDERS (min. 10 games)

				GP	GAA	SVS%	SO
1.		Ilya Proskuryakov	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	18	1.66	93.4	4
2.		Jeff Glass	Barys Astana	12	2.42	93.1	0
3.		Konstantin Barulin	CSKA Moscow	12	1.89	92.6	0
4.		Georgi Gelashvili	Lada Togliatti	10	2.32	92.2	0
5.		Robert Esche	SKA St. Petersburg	13	1.98	92.1	3
6.		Stanislav Galimov	Ak Bars Kazan	12	2.51	91.5	1
7.		Karri Rämö	Avangard Omsk	17	1.87	91.4	2
8.		Sergei Bobrovski	Metallurg Novokuznetsk	11	2.82	91.3	0
9.		Bernd Brückler	Torpedo Nizhny-Novgorod	16	2.63	91.2	0
10.		Andrei Mezin	Dynamo Minsk	12	2.64	91.2	0

GAME SUMMARIES 22-26 October 2009

22 October

Ak Bars Kazan - Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg 4-1 (1-0, 2-1, 1-0)
1-0 05:30 Danis Zaripov 4 (Nikulin, Morozov) PP2
1-1 23:09 Artur Savrov 1 (Kazionov)
2-1 26:56 Alexei Morozov 8 (Nikulin, Tereshchenko) PP
3-1 31:24 Alexei Morozov 9 (D. Zaripov)
4-1 44:46 Ilya Nikulin 3 (Tereshchenko)
BAR 5x2, AVT 5x2, SOG: 38-22, Att.: 7750
Goaltenders: Galimov (21/22, 95.5%) - Lisutin (34/38, 89.5%)

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk - Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0-4 (0-1, 0-1, 0-2)
0-1 09:41 Stanislav Chistov 6 (S. Fedorov)
0-2 32:14 Vladislav Bulin 2 (Seluyanov, Kontiola) PP
0-3 45:24 Igor Radulov 9 (Platonov)
0-4 58:45 Denis Khlystov 4 (Rolinek)
NEF 5x2, MET 5x2, SOG: 29-26, Att.: 5500
Goaltenders: Vadim Tarasov (22/26, 84.6%) - Proskuryakov (29/29)

Lada Togliatti - Traktor Chelyabinsk 3-2 (2-0, 1-0, 0-2)
1-0 00:39 Andrei Mikhnov 1 (Petrov, Chernikov)
2-0 18:11 Erik Veyssmann 1 PP
3-0 37:16 Roman Kukumberg 9
3-1 46:46 Evgeni Galkin 2 (Platil)
3-2 57:27 Andrei Popov 8 (Ramzi, Dagenais)
LAD 2x2, TRA 6x2, SOG: 22-16, Att.: 2900
Goaltenders: Koshechkin (14/16, 87.5%) - Alistarov (19/22, 86.4%, 3.02)

Dinamo Riga - Sibir Novosibirsk 3-5 (1-1, 1-2, 1-2)
1-0 15:57 Alexander Nizivijs 6 (K. Redlihs, Ozolins) PP
1-1 17:09 Vladimir Tarasenko 4 (Kharitonov, Tarasov)
2-1 25:23 Mike Iggulden 6 (Foster)
2-2 28:17 Mikhail Anisin 8 PS
2-3 32:48 Alex Akifev 2 (Cermak, Kartsev)
3-3 44:52 Guntis Galvins 2 (Sprukts)
3-4 46:56 Aleksander Kutuzov 1 (Akifev)
3-5 59:59 Egor Milovzorov 3 (Boykov) EN
RIG 3x2, SIB 6x2, SOG: 42-25, Att.: 5460
Goaltenders: Prusek (20/24, 83.3%, 4.06) - Lawson (39/42, 92.9%)

Dinamo Minsk - Metallurg Novokuznetsk 2-4 (1-1, 0-2, 1-1)
1-0 13:09 Andrei Mikhalev 3 (Meleshko)
1-1 18:37 Albert Vishnyakov 4 (Marusak, Polischuk) PP
1-2 26:02 Fedor Polischuk 1 (Marusak, Khlebnikov)
1-3 36:44 Richard Kapus 1 PP
2-3 44:37 Dmitri Meleshko 5 (Stas, Lintner)
2-4 53:21 Evgeni Orlov 3 (Polischuk)
MIN 5x2, MET 7x2, SOG: 29-19, Att.: 3500
Goaltenders: Koval (15/19, 78.9%, 4.08) - Viukhin (27/29, 93.1%)

Dynamo Moscow - Amur Khabarovsk 6-2 (1-1, 3-1, 2-0)
0-1 05:39 Aleksander Yunkov 3 (Arakaev, Ignatushkin)
1-1 10:05 Matthias Weinhandl 10 PS
1-2 22:25 Aleksander Yunkov 4 (Krysanov, Ignatushkin)
2-2 26:10 Karel Rachunek 1 (Weinhandl, Hudler) PP
3-2 37:32 Vitali Yachmenev 2 (Weinhandl, Denisov)
4-2 39:14 Johan Harju 2 (Zhitnik, Vyshedkevich) PP
5-2 40:45 Linus Omark 7 (Weinhandl, Hudler)
6-2 51:04 Linus Omark 8
MOS 6x2 + 1x10 (Topleko), 9x2 + 1x10 (Seleznev), SOG: 41-19, Att.: 4100
Goaltenders: Biryukov (17/19, 89.5) - Moss (24/29, 82.8%, 7.36) 40:45 Malkov (11/12, 91.7%, 3.12)

23 October

Barys Astana - Vityaz Chekhov 3-1 (1-1, 1-0, 1-0)
0-1 12:13 Aleksander Romanov 3 (Bobrov, Ryazantsev)
1-1 17:06 Alexei Vassilchenko 1 (Gimaev, Kasnoslobodtsev) PP
2-1 29:56 Maxim Spiridonov 9 (Stumpel, Dallman)
3-1 50:33 Talgat Zhailauov 4 (Krasnoslobodtsev) PP
BAR 5x2, VIT 8x2, SOG: 48-22, Att.: 5000
Goaltenders: Glass (21/22, 95.5%) - Denisov (45/48, 93.8%)

Avangard Omsk - Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3-0 (2-0, 1-0, 0-0)
1-0 01:35 Egor Averin 4 (Babchuk)
2-0 02:38 Jakub Klepis 3 (Ryabykin, Pestunov) PP
3-0 36:38 Anton Babchuk 3 (Pervyshin, Kuryanov) PP
AVA 4x2 + 1x10 (Kukkonen), TOR 10x2 + 1x10 (Shastin), SOG: 34-25, Att.: 9850
Goaltenders: Ramo (25/25) - Bruckler (31/34, 91.2%)

Spartak Moscow - Severstal Cherepovets 3-1 (1-0, 2-0, 0-1)
1-0 09:12 Kirill Knyazev 10 (Rybakov, Lyaduchin)
2-0 21:53 Kirill Knyazev 11 (Rybakov) PP
3-0 26:38 Branko Radivojevic 5 (Upper)
3-1 51:46 Marek Zagrapan 6 (Lemtyugov, Chudinov)
SPA 6x2, SEV 5x2, SOG: 27-41, Att.: 3800
Goaltenders: Konobry (40/41, 97.6%) - Mylnikov (24/27, 88.9%)

24 October

Dynamo Minsk - Sibir Novosibirsk 1-4 (1-1, 0-2, 0-1)
1-0 04:14 Jeff Platt 4 (Andersson, Lintner) PP
1-1 07:40 Dmitri Tarasov 1 (Tarasenko)
1-2 34:58 Dmitri Tarasov 2 (Tarasenko) PP
1-3 36:43 Mikhail Chernov 3 (Akifev) PP
1-4 49:12 Alexei Akifev 3 (Cermak) PP
MIN 8x2, SIB 7x2, SOG: 36-27, Att.: 3450
Goaltenders: Mezin (23/27, 85.2%) - Lawson (35/36, 97.2%)

Dynamo Moscow - Metallurg Novokuznetsk 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
1-0 46:40 Matthias Weinhandl 11 (Rachunek) PP
MOS 6x2 + 1x10 (Rachunek), MET 8x2 + 1x10 (Shinkar), SOG: 20-19, Att.: 3800
Goaltenders: Eremeev (19/19) - Viukhin (19/20, 95%, 1.01)

SKA St. Petersburg - Salavat Yulaev Ufa 3-5 (1-1, 1-2, 1-2)
1-0 04:38 Alexei Yashin 5 (Sushinski, Kwiatkowski)
1-1 19:20 Aleksander Perezhogin 6 (Radulov) PP
2-1 28:54 Alexei Yashin 6 (Sushinsky, Cajanek)
2-2 33:30 Andrei Taratukhin 4 (Kozlov)
2-3 37:47 Aleksander Radulov 7 (Tverdovsky)
3-3 49:04 Aleksander Korolyuk 5 (Ekman, Peretyagin)
3-4 50:53 Oleg Tverdovsky 4 (Kozlov, Thoresen)
3-5 58:51 Oleg Tverdovsky 5 (Radulov, Thoresen)
SKA 14x2 + 1x25 (Esche), SAL 9x2, SOG: 25-27, Att.: 11500
Goaltenders: Esche (22/27, 81.5%, 5.10), 58:51 Yachanov (0/0) - Eremenko (21/24, 87.5%, 3.01)

HC MVD - Amur Khabarovsk 3-1 (1-1, 2-0, 0-0)
1-0 06:49 Maksim Velikov 1 (Volkov, Kudashov)
1-1 17:45 Aleksander Yunkov 5 (Krysanov, Ignatushkin)
2-1 27:27 Denis Kokarev 5 (Mosalev, Novak)
3-1 39:46 Matt Ellison 5 (Kudashov, Volkov) PP
MVD 4x2, AMU 11x2, SOG: 30-20, Att.:1800
Goaltenders: Garnett (19/20, 95%) - Moss (27/30, 90%)

25 October

Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg - Lada Togliatti 2-1 (0-0, 0-0, 2-1)
1-0 46:14 Andrei Subbotin 5 (Bushev, Voronkov) PP
1-1 53:45 Sergei Sevsotyanov 2 (Veyssmann, Kukumberg)
2-1 55:26 Vitali Sitnikov 4 (Simakov, Otmakhov) PP2
AVT 10x2, LAD 7x2, SOG: 32-31, Att.: 4500
Goaltenders: Lisutin (30/31, 96.8%) - Koshechkin (30/32, 93.8%, 2.02)

Metallurg Magnitogorsk - AK Bars Kazan 5-3 (1-3, 3-0, 1-0)
0-1 02:13 Dmitri Kazionov 5 (Obukhov)
1-1 06:24 Vladislav Bulin 3 (Chistov, Seluyanov) PP
1-2 06:45 Janne Pesonen 5 (Panin)
1-3 18:45 Danis Zaripov 5 (Pervyshyn, Tershchenko) PP
2-3 22:20 Sergei Fedrov 4 (Koivisto, Chistov)
3-3 29:45 Denis Platonov 5 (Radulov, Atyushov)
4-3 39:35 Nikolai Pronin 5 (Kaygorodov, F. Fedorov) PP
5-3 43:49 Fedor Fedorov 3
MET 4x2, BAR 6x2, SOG: 29-21, Att.: 7704
Goaltenders: Proskuryakov (18/21, 85.7%) - Galimov (15/19, 78.9%, 6.00), 40:00 Tellquist (9/10, 90%, 3.00)

Traktor Chelyabinsk - Neftekhimi Nizhnekamsk 4-6 (1-1, 1-3, 2-2)
1-0 02:45 Pierre Dagenais 5 (Popov, Ramzi)
1-1 11:00 Igor Polygalov 6 (Ryasenski, Ivanov)
2-1 30:06 Andrei Nikolishyn 2
2-2 32:26 Maksim Pestushko 5 (Demagin) PP2
2-3 37:32 Andrei Ivanov 9 (Lapenkov)
2-4 38:30 Aleksander Bumagin 2 (Persson)
3-4 42:15 Andrei Popov 9
3-5 51:26 Gennadi Razin 1 PP
4-5 54:48 Pavel Boychenko 10 (Plaksin, Galkin) PP
4-6 56:53 Nikolai Belov 2 (Emeleev, Arkhipov)
TRA 10x2 + 1x10 (Korovkin), NEF 9x2 + 1x10 (Polygalov), SOG: 27-39, Att.: 5500
Goaltenders: Alistarov (23/27, 85.2%, 6.23), 38:30 Danilishin (10/12, 83.3%, 5.83) - Tarasov (23/27, 85.2%)

Severstal Cherepovets - Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2-3 (2-0, 0-3, 0-0)
1-0 09:45 Josef Straka 7 (Soin, Gubin) PP
2-0 19:38 Marek Zagrapan 7 (Nagy, Lemtyugov) PP
2-1 22:10 Josef Vasicek 9 (Konkov, Anikeenko) PP
2-2 22:52 Gennadi Churilov 5 (Galimov, Anikeenko)
2-3 37:24 Josef Vasicek 10 (Konkov)
SEV 8x2, LOK 8x2 + 1x10 (Churilov) + 1x5+20+25 (Gelashvili), SOG: 36-31, Att.: 3500
Goaltenders: Stana (28/31, 90.3%, 3.02) - Gelashvili (34/36, 94.4%, 2.00)

Avangard Omsk - Vityaz Chekhov 1-2 (1-1, 0-1, 0-0)
1-0 10:26 Egor Averin 5 (Babchuk, Perrin) PP
1-1 18:37 Vladimir Karkov 2 (Kolesnikov)
1-2 24:28 Vladimir Karpov 3 (Tulyakov, Berdnikov) PP
AVA 3x2, VIT 3x2, SOG: 22-25, Att.: 10200
Goaltenders: Ramo (23/25, 92%, 2.01) - Zvyagin (21/22, 95.5%)

26 October

SKA St. Petersburg - Barys Astana 3-2 SO (1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
0-1 02:27 Evgeni Rymarev 3
1-1 10:13 Andrei Zyuzin 2 (Misko, Rybin)
1-2 30:37 Maksim Spiridonov 10 (Glazachev) PP1
2-2 34:53 Aleksei Yashin 7 (Petrov, Zubov) PP1
3-2 65:00 SO Sergei Zubov
SKA 6x2 + 1x10 (But), BAR 8x2 33:34, SOG, Att: 5,300
Goaltenders: Esche (32/34, 1.85, 94.1) - Glass (31/33, 1.85, 93.9)

Atlant Mytischy - Salavat Yulaev Ufa 0-6 (0-1, 0-3, 0-2)
0-1 11:53 Igor Grigorenko 5 (Ki. Koltsov, Sidyakin)
0-2 22:32 Kirill Koltsov 2 (Perezhogin)
0-3 34:08 Andrei Taratukhin 5 (Perezhogin, Kalinin)
0-4 36:49 Aleksandr Radulov 8 (Zinoviev)
0-5 41:29 Aleksei Medvedev (Ko. Koltsov, Antipov)
0-6 50:12 Patrick Thoresen (Radulov, Zinoviev)
ATL 2x2, SAL 5x2 + 1x10 (Proshkin), SOG 24:21, Att: 7,000
Goaltenders: Gerberg (15/21, 71.4) - Kolesnik (24/24)

Dinamo Riga - Dynamo Moscow 2-4 (0-0, 0-3, 2-1)
0-1 23:34 Andrei Plekhanov 1 (Harju)
0-2 26:55 Karel Rachunek 2 (Weinhandl, Hudler) PP2
0-3 29:54 Mattias Weinhandl 12 (Hudler, Yachmenev) PP1
1-3 40:57 Marcel Hossa 11
2-3 50:08 Lauris Darzins 5 (Redlihs, Iggulden)
2-4 52:12 Mattias Weinhandl 13 (Yachmenev, Hudler)
RIG 7x2, MOS 9x2, SOG 33:19 , Att: 6,562
Goaltenders: Prusek (16/19, 84.2, 6.02) - Biryukov (31/33, 93.9)

NOTE: Piotr Kaczmarek contributed to this article by compiling game summaries.