Winning Avtomobilists

You might be asking yourself (or not) why I haven't done much in the way of other hockey leagues. Today is your lucky day, as there is an amazing run happening in the Kontinental Hockey League, as the franchise from Yekaterinburg known as Avtomobilist is currently the only undefeated team in the league. It is the middle of October, and the league began play at the beginning of September, which means that it has been six weeks into the season, and the team has yet to taste defeat in any form. So, what's the details behind this run? Let's take a look.

Prior to the season, Avtomobilist was picked by pundits to be the class of the Eastern Conference, having picked up Nigel Dawes in the off-season. Dawes had a brief run in the NHL, but could not stick due to his lack of size despite being a scorer for much of his career. He came over to Avtomobilist from Barys in the off-season, having become the accomplished scorer people saw in both the WHL and the AHL. He has been a major difference maker, but he has hardly been the only one, as other former NHLers to dot the roster include Nikita Tryamkin, Stephane Da Costa, and Ivan Vishnevsky. Now, what about the streak itself? Of the 18 games played thus far, Avtomobilist has won by two or more goals 13 times and has been taken to overtime in just two of the 18 games. Even with the points system now resembling the NHL's, that is an amazing streak. Their next two opponents in their chance to extend their streak are Barys tomorrow morning and Severstal on Friday.