Players of the Week 20: Metsola, Lee, Shipachyov and Ilyenko
To mark the end of the twentieth week’s play of the ninth season of the Championship, the Kontinental Hockey League has named the best players of the week in four categories.
– Best goaltender was Juha Metsola (Amur), who kept the opposition off the scoreboard in both matches. Following last week’s exploits, the 27-year-old Finn’s unbeaten spell currently stretches to 119 minutes 13 seconds, and he now has 6 shutouts under his belt this season;
– Best defenseman was Chris Lee (Metallurg Magnitogorsk), who made three appearances and finished the week with two wins and 6 points (1+5). The 36-year-old Canadian struck the overtime game-winner against Torpedo, earned a +2 for the week and averaged 25 minutes 6 seconds of ice time – more than any other player in the KHL;
– Best forward was Vadim Shipachyov (SKA), who helped his team to victory in all four games, thanks in no small part to his mighty haul of 11 points (4+7), which was the highest total in the League and included a double against Metallurg Novokuznetsk. The 29-year-old Russian did not receive a single negative rating on his way to meriting a +4 for the week;
– Best rookie was 20-year-old Lokomotiv forward Artyom Ilyenko, who enjoyed three outings and celebrated victory in all three, scoring the game-winning goals against both Neftekhimik and Ak Bars and averaging 9 minutes 43 seconds on the ice.
