Three games featuring New York Rangers prospects on Monday
The KHL in Russia and the SHL in Sweden had games on the schedule on Monday. That meant four New York Rangers prospects were in action. No scoring from any of them, but three were winners.
SHL (Sweden)
There was only one Ranger prospect who lost on Monday, but that was guaranteed as there was one SHL game that featured two Rangers prospects opposing each other. It was big win for Leksand as they shut out first place Frölunda before a home crowd.
Neither Karl Henriksson of Frölunda and Calle Själin of Leksand dented the scoresheet. Defenseman Själin played 17:52, had one hit in the game. Center Henriksson played 12:07 and was a minus one on the game with one hit. He is still looking for his first goal of the season after 15 games. He does have four assists.
It was the first loss for Frölunda in five games and they remain in first place in the SHL. It’s two wins in a row for Leksand who are in ninth place.
KHL (Russia)
Another scoreless game for Vitali Kravtsov in Traktor’s 3-1 win over Jokerit in front of 3,287 spectators in Helsinki. . Traktor improved to record of 16-2-2-7. Traktor is now only two points out of first place in KHL’s Eastern Conference. Their 16 wins is the second most in the entire league. Kravtsov had one shot on goal in 14:04 minutes of ice time. He also had one hit.
CSKA won again, 3-1 over Lokomotiv, at home in front of 2,192 fans.Blueliner Yegor Rykov had21 shifts for 16:26 minutes of ice time. He had no shots, but did have two blocks. CSKA maintained their hold on first place in the Western Conference with a 17-3-3-4 record.
At this point is appears that both Rykov and Kravtsov will be headed to the KHL playoffs when the season ends at the end of February. With reports that the Rangers are willing to let Kravtsov finish his KHL season, you have to wonder if the same goes for Rykov.
He is playing on CSKA’s third defense pairing and could get some very valuable experience playing for Gagarin Cup. On the other hand, the Rangers defense is the biggest question mark going into the new season and if they feel that Rykov could have a chance to win a starting job, should they recall him?
Tipsport ELH (Czech Republic)
On Sunday, Libor Hajek played in his second game for Kometa Brno. He had one shot on goal, three blocked shots and one hit and was a minus one in the Comets 3-2 shootout win over VÍTKOVICE RIDERA. Hajek played 18:43, most of any defenseman and that included 3:32 on the penalty kill.
The Comets have now won two in a row with Hajek in the lineup and moved into ninth place. One of Hajek’s teammates on the Comets is Boston Bruins prospect Jakub Zboril, a first round draft pick in 2015.