Prospects update: 9 shots on goal for Tarmo Reunanen and more

A quiet day for New  York Rangers prospects with games in Russia and Finland

Wednesday is usually a quiet night for European hockey, even more so with the pandemic causing some games to  be cancelled.  Still there were games in Russia and Finland and a result from Tuesday in the Czech Republic to report on.

KHL (Russia)

New York Rangers forward prospect Vitali Kravtsov played in Traktor’s 1-0 win over SKA, a key road win in front of 6,315 fans.  The only goal was scored by Tomas Hyka and Kravtsov was held without a point for the fourth straight game.  He did have five shots on goal, along with one hit in 20:34 minutes of ice time over 21 shifts.   That was a full two minutes more than any other Traktor forward and the most ice time of any Traktor player.

The five shots are an encouraging sign.  He had five or more shots in five of his first six games, a span in which he scored five goals.  Since coming back from an injury, has hasn’t been getting as many shots on net with only three shots on goal in his last four games. You need to shoot to score, just ask David Quinn.

Traktor has now won five games in a row and nine of their last ten. and they lead the Eastern Conference by four points over Avangard.  The fact that Kravtsov played so much in such a tight game is worth noting.

Liiga (Finland)

Defenseman Tarmo Reuanen played his third game for HPK since his promotion from the Mestis league.   He was scoreless again, but not for lack of trying.  Reunanen had an astounding nine shots on goal in HPK’s 3-2 shootout win over JYP in Jyväskylä, Finland before 1,395 spectators.

Reuanen is playing on the top defensive pairing and he played 26:54, second most on the team.  That’s almost half of the game.   He finished with a plus/minus of +1 for the game. It was the first win for HPK since he joined the team.

Lauri Pajuniemi played for TPS in their 3-2 overtime loss to Kalpa.  Leevi Aaltonen was not int he lineup for KalPa for the second straight game.   Pajuniemi played 16:48 and had one shot on goal.

It was the third overtime loss by TPS in their last four games.  For KalPa it was their first overtime game of the season.

Other games

On Tuesday, Libor Hajek played his third game for Kometa Brno, a 2-1 loss to Dynamo Pardubice. He played 17:14 and took one minor penalty.  He finished with a plus/minus of +1 and had 1 shot on goal and blocked two shots.

In the Allsvenskan League in Sweden, Mora and goalie Olof Lindbom were in quarantine so their game versus AIK was postponed.

Adam Huska did not play in Zvolen’s 3-2 win over  Liptovský Mikuláš, in  Slovakia.

There’s a full schedule of games in the SHL in Sweden on Thursday, pandemic permitting.