Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov had another productive outing with SKA St. Petersburg yesterday.
The Montreal Canadiens had a day off yesterday, but prospect Ivan Demidov was in action with his SKA St. Petersburg side. Skating on the top line, the right winger recorded a fourth consecutive game with at least two points and scored at least a goal in a sixth consecutive game.
In SKA's 5-2 win over Vityaz HC, Demidov got an assist on his team's first goal which marked the start of the St. Petersburg's comeback. Then, in the second frame, he scored the insurance marker which brought the score to 4-2.
Through 60 minutes, Demidov tallied 2 points and 3 shots in 14:49 of ice time over 23 shifts. The youngster also completed 24 of the 26 passes he attempted and travelled 4.3 KM.
In his last six games, he has 11 points (seven goals and four assists), a plus-seven rating, 18 shots on net and, more importantly, in five of those six matches, he has spent over 14 minutes on the ice. Since being promoted to the top line, Demidov has been a forced to be reckoned with and his increased production is hardly surprising.
In 40 games played, the talented Russian now has 31 points trailing team leader Sergei Plotnikov by only three points. What's remarkable however is that the latter has gathered his 34 points spending just over 19 minutes on the ice on average while Demidov's average ice time on the season stands at 11:31.
SKA has now played 41 games out of the 68 scheduled in its regular season, the longest regular season in KHL history. With 27 games to go in his regular season, Demidov should pick up more points than countryman Matvei Michkov did in his last KHL season. The Philadelphia Flyers rookie registered 41 points in 47 games in his last campaign in Russia.
This morning, Demidov was named both the forward and the rookie of the week in the KHL, receiving some much deserved praise.
The regular season in the Russian league will end on March 23. As for the Gargarin Cup playoffs, they will kick off on March 26 and could finish as late as May 25.
The top eight teams in each conference make the playoffs and SKA is currently fourth in the Western Conference with 54 points, 12 points ahead of the eight team and should therefore qualify comfortably for the playoffs.
In other words, it would be quite surprising if Demidov's season in the KHL ended early enough for his to come over and join the Canadiens toward the end of the NHL campaign. Fear not Habs fans, he will be well worth the wait.
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