Podkolzin `rewarded' in playoff pressure cooker
It's the latest edition of the weekly tracker, where we tally up the efforts of the Vancouver Canucks' highest-profile prospects:
VASILI PODKOLZIN
There's no better teacher in life than experience.
So for all the angst this season over his ice time and deployment, what Vasili Podkolzin is getting in these KHL playoffs is nothing short of a PhD in prospect development.
The Canucks' 2019 first-rounder continued to earn the confidence of the SKA St. Petersburg coaching staff this past week, notching three points in three games to help SKA dispose of Dynamo Moscow in five games to reach the third round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
After going without a point over the first two games of the series, Podkolzin produced in Monday's 3-2 overtime win. Just four minutes into the game, the 19-year-old helped steal the puck in the neutral zone before linemate Ivan Morozov found him streaking down the right wing. Podkolzin took it from there, lowering his shoulder and going hard to the net before cramming in his own rebound. Podkolzin, playing on the third line with youngsters Morozov and Kirill Marchenko, finished the game with a goal, two shots on net and two blocked shots in 16:11 of ice time.
The six-foot-one, 205-pound left-shot winger kept up his strong play in Wednesday's 3-1 Game 4 win, getting two more shots on net (with one resulting in a rebound goal) while blocking a shot in 12:23 of ice time.
“Two even, high-quality teams are competing against each other, it's a battle of character. The ice hockey itself is completely different in comparison to the regular season,” Podkolzin said post-game.
“The guys are following the coach's plan, they're competing hard across all zones of the ice. When you play in the correct way, you are rewarded.”
In Friday's series-clinching victory, Podkolzin played a role in the 4-0 win despite skating for a team-low 8:07. As the net-front presence on the second power play unit, Podkolzin positioned himself smartly in front and provided a perfect screen as a point shot was blasted past a blinded Dynamo goaltender.
His six points (3G, 3A) in 10 playoff games lead all under-20 KHL players this post-season.
Podkolzin has a chance to tie or even surpass New York Rangers prospect Vitaly Kravstov's (2018, ninth overall) KHL U-20 record of 11 points, compiled over 16 games during the 2017-18 post-season.
And with SKA set to face archrival CSKA Moscow for Game 1 of the Conference final on Friday — a series that's sure to be a drawn-out dogfight — the chance that the Canucks' top prospect plays on this side of the pond later this season appears to be slim to nil.
DMITRI ZLODEYEV
Call an ambulance — but not for him.
After six weeks on the shelf with a broken bone in his face, Zlodeyev returned to action this past week for Dynamo Moscow of Russia's junior-tier MHL and helped sweep aside Krasnaya Armiya 3-0 in the
best-of-five quarter-final series.
Zlodeyev, the Canucks' sixthround pick in the 2020 NHL draft, played the role of third-line centre and collected two assists over three games, both to linemate Brogdan Trineyev.
He skated for 13:15 in his return from injury and got his first assist in Tuesday's 3-1 Game 2 win. On the play, the five-foot-11, 183-pound centre won an offensive zone faceoff, went to the net and set up Trineyev for a goal in tight.
Then in Friday's series-clinching 3-1 win, the defensive-minded Zlodeyev stole the puck in the offensive zone before finding Trineyev in the high slot for the game-tying 1-1 goal. Zlodeyev, who also saw time on the team's penalty kill, had a scoring chance of his own late in the game, but fired the puck off the goaltender's shoulder.
“Watching your team play from the side is hard,” Zlodeyev said last week. “I wanted to get on the ice sooner, I think it gave an emotional boost.”
No. 1-ranked Dynamo Moscow next faces No. 5-ranked Tolpar in the semifinals. Zlodeyev, 19, had also played 19 games this season for Dynamo's second-tier team (7G, OA), which was knocked out in the first round of the VHL playoffs.
ELSEWHERE: The Utica Comets have been sidelined since March 10 due to “an abundance of caution in accordance with the AHL's COVID-19 protocols” and have missed seven games since then. The team's next game is scheduled for Wednesday against the Syracuse Crunch.