Podkolzin plays power game in KHL
Teenage Russian showing off motor that impelled Canucks to draft him
It's the latest edition of the weekly tracker, where we tally up the efforts of the Vancouver Canucks' highest-profile prospects:
VASILI PODKOLZIN
The sample size is small, but the implications grow with each passing game.
Vasili Podkolzin — with three points in four playoff games this season and six points in eight over his brief KHL career — is earning the reputation as a big-game player.
The 19-year-old left-shot forward, whose relentless game was always thought to be tailor-made for playoff hockey, was a cut above for SKA St. Petersburg this past week in Gagarin Cup action.
The Canucks' 2019 first-rounder came out flying in Tuesday's 4-2 series-opening win over Dinamo Minsk, keeping his motor going while gaining the zone in the second period and drawing a boarding penalty against former NHL tough guy Rob Klinkhammer.
SKA would score on the ensuing power play to take a 2-1 lead.
Then Podkolzin would take matters into his own hands. With the score still 2-1 in the second period, the six-foot-one, 203-pound winger took a feed from linemate Ivan Morozov in the high slot, pulled the puck around a defender and whipped a wrist shot short-side past the goalie's glove.
The shot, which clocked in at 114 km/h., was the game-winner.
Podkolzin would finish the game with a goal, a plus-1 rating, one shot on net and two hits in 12:27 of ice time.
After, the young Russian talked about the team's mentality surrounding its first playoff game.
“It was a tough, physical game. We struggled at the start of the match with so many emotions,” Podkolzin said. “Nevertheless, after speaking in the dressing room, we improved across the ice.
“The first playoff match is always like this. We had been waiting for this moment throughout the regular season, we're here to fight for the Gagarin Cup.”
When asked about Minsk's players throwing a lot of hits, Podkolzin offered this pearl of wisdom: “Probably, this was because it's the start of the playoffs. This is normal.”
Podkolzin was good again in Thursday's 6-4 win, skating for 14:34 while getting four shots on net and an empty-net goal to seal the deal.
The fact he was on the ice with a minute left to defend a 5-4 lead in the playoffs says something about the coaching staff 's trust in a player who was scratched and benched so many times over the last two seasons.
That trust seemed to extend into Saturday's Game 3, with Podkolzin realigned with fellow young hotshots Ivan Morozov and Kirill Marchenko — though it didn't last the whole game. With less than a minute left in the second period, Morozov got dinged for a check-to-the-head penalty and was given a game misconduct.
In the ensuing scrum, Podkolzin intercepted the 34-year-old Klinkhammer — who came after Morozov with bad intentions — and wrestled the veteran to the ice. Both were given two-minute roughing minors.
With the score tied 3-3 in overtime, Podkolzin continued to push the pace, breaking up plays on the backcheck while taking the puck to the Minsk defence with confidence.
Then, on a power play, Podkolzin found former Canuck Linden Vey in the slot for the winner. The pass was slightly tipped by Marchenko, earning Podkolzin a secondary assist.
The Moscow native finished the game with an assist, two shots on net, one hit and one blocked shot in 17:59.
Podkolzin now has eight points (5G, 3A) in his last 11 KHL games while playing on SKA's fourth line.
In Monday's Game 4, SKA couldn't pull off the series sweep as Dinamo won 2-1 at home.
For all the goodwill Podkolzin earned over the first three games, a second-period minor penalty left him stapled to the bench for the latter part of the loss.
Even so, Podkolzin led all SKA forwards in shots (three) despite taking the least amount of shifts (10).
He finished the game with an even rating while skating for a paltry 8:15 of ice time.
With six points in eight career KHL playoff games (3G, 3A), Podkolzin's points-per-game average (0.75) dwarfs his regular season per-game contribution (0.28).
SKA next plays Dinamo at home on Wednesday.
NIKITA TRYAMKIN
Avtomobilist is in the fight of its life against No. 2 seed Avangard and the towering defenceman is in the thick of it.
Tryamkin's KHL team lost Tuesday's series-opener 3-0, though the 2014 third-rounder wasn't the problem, finishing the game with an even rating, one shot on net, two hits and one blocked shot in 17:31.
Thursday's Game 2 went a little better, with Avoto-mobilist losing a tight 4-3 affair. Tryamkin was much more involved, getting two shots on net, three hits and five blocked shots in 20:35.
The six-foot-eight, 254-pound defenceman even notched an assist, firing a hard shot from the wing that the goalie couldn't handle, directing the puck to an Avtomobilist player, who scored on the rebound.
Down 2-0 in the series, Avtomobilist earned a gutsy 2-1 Game 3 win at home in Yekaterinburg on Saturday, with the big friendly giant on the ice for both goals scored, one of which came on the penalty kill. Tryamkin finished the game with a plus-2 rating, one shot on net, one hit and two blocked shots in 19:02.
In Monday's Game 4, the 26-year-old got his team off on the right foot, trailing a rush up the ice by teammate Georgy Belousov, who circled behind the net and found Tryamkin at the left faceoff circle, who wristed a shot past the goaltender for a 1-0 lead.
After holding on to a 3-1 lead in the third period, Avangard struck twice late in the game to force overtime, with Tryamkin on the ice for both goals against.
Former NHL superstar Ilya Kovalchuk sealed the deal in the second overtime, scoring on a 2-on-1 to give Avangard a 3-1 series lead. Tryamkin wasn't on the ice for the winner.
Tryamkin finished the game with a goal, a plus-1 rating, four shots on net, one hit and two blocked shots in 26:05 of ice time.
Game 5 of the series takes place on Wednesday in Omsk.
JACK RATHBONE
The way he shoots the puck, it was only a matter of time before he scored.
Rathbone got his first professional goal for the Utica Comets on Wednesday in a 4-2 loss at Rochester, extending a hot start to his American Hockey League career with his fifth point in his first three games.
The goal came on a third-period power play with the Comets down 3-1. On the play, the 2017 fourth-rounder wound up for a one-timer and blasted the puck far side past the goalie's outstretched blocker.
Rathbone, 21, finished the game with a goal, four shots on net and an even rating. His defensive partner, Jett Woo, also had another strong game playing alongside the left-shot blue-liner. Woo, a right-shooting 2018 second-rounder, had three shots on goal and an even rating in the loss.
The pairing has clicked since it was put together a couple of weeks ago, Rathbone told Sportsnet 650's Randip Janda and Dan Riccio on Friday.
“Playing with a guy like Jett makes life really easy on me,” Rathbone said. “He's got a really high hockey IQ. He's someone who is a smart player, can shoot it and he's got that offensive upside to him.
“We've been making some plays out there and I'd say we've been pretty good on both sides of the puck so far.”
Meanwhile, Jonah Gadjovich (2017, Round 2) continued his assault on the stat sheet, with the power forward notching his seventh goal in eight games during Wednesday's loss.
Gadjovich, 22, scored the best way he knows how — by going hard to the net and burying a loose puck past the goaltender.
Linemate and fellow Canucks prospect Will Lockwood also had a strong game, using his speed and creativity in the offensive zone to get seven shots on net and an assist on Gadjovich's goal. If he continues to play this way, Lockwood is bound to score his first professional goal sooner than later.
The Comets (5-2-0-1) play Friday at home against Syracuse.
AIDAN MCDONOUGH
The Hockey East co-player of the month for February will be taking his talents to a one-off, single-elimination NCAA tournament next week after his No. 18-ranked Northeastern Huskies dropped a 4-2 decision Friday night to No. 2-ranked Boston College.
McDonough, a long-shot seventh-round pick in 2019 whose stock rises with each goal scored, notched an assist in Friday's loss to finish the regular season with 10 goals and 10 assists in 20 games.
The six-foot-two, 201-pound left-shot winger scored six of his goals on the power play, good for seventh overall in the NCAA. McDonough, 21, scored 11 goals in 31 games in his freshman year.
The Huskies now wait to learn who they'll play in the Hockey East tournament, which begins on Wednesday. The tournament is a one-off deal this season because of COVID concerns. The winner of the tournament will receive Hockey East's automatic bid into the national tournament.
JONI JURMO
Jurmo continued to excel in the Finnish second-tier Mestis league, going a combined plus-4 for Kiekko-Espoo over two games.
In Thursday's 3-2 win over Koovee, the 2019 third-rounder had three shots on goal and a plus-1 rating in 16:07 playing the left side on the team's top defensive pairing.
Then in Saturday's 6-5 loss to FPS, Jurmo had another three shots on goal and a plus-3 rating in 20:40 of ice time.