Koskinen, Bailen, Omark and Kravtsov. Players of the Round
To mark the end of the second round of the 2017-18 season playoffs, the Conference semi-finals, the Kontinental Hockey League has named the best players of the round in four categories.
– Best goaltender was Mikko Koskinen (SKA), who celebrated victory in four of the five games in the series against Lokomotiv, shutting the Yaroslavl team out in two meetings. The 29-year-old Finn achieved the highest save percentage (97.06) and lowest goals against average (0.81) of any netminder in the round;
– Best defenseman was Nick Bailen (Traktor). The 28-year-old Belarusian-American played in all seven games of the series against Salavat Yulaev, celebrating four wins, scoring 6 (2+4) points, firing off 18 shots, and meriting a +8 for the round - the highest efficiency rating of any D-man in the Conference semi-finals;
– Best forward was Linus Omark (Salavat Yulaev). The 31-year-old Swede faced Bailen and the Chelyabinsk Men in all seven encounters in the dramatic series, firing off 31 shots at goal, earning a +1 for the round, and - despite finishing on the losing side - scoring 8 (2+6) points in the series – the best total of any player in the Conference semis;
– Best rookie was Traktor forward Vitaly Kravtsov, who was also the winner of this accolade for the quarter-finals. Like Bailen and Omark, the 18-year-old appeared in all seven matches of the classic Ufa-Chelyabinsk series, and his personal semi-finals account shows 13 shots, 6 (2+4) points (including the winning goal in Game 1), an average of 13 minutes 54 seconds on the ice, and a +2 for the series.
