Demidov’s Regular Season Is Over

On Saturday, Ivan Demidov and SKA St. Petersburg played the last game of their regular season in the KHL, a 3-2 win over Torpedo. The Montreal Canadiens prospect was held off the scoresheet and finished his season with 19 goals and 30 assists for 49 points in 62 games.

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He started the game skating on the second line but saw limited ice time in the third frame, skating for 3:07 over five shifts. However, he was on the ice for 1:53 in overtime and showed some great moves, although he could not score. Throughout 65 minutes, he had three shots on goal: one blocked shot and two hits. He was one of the shooters in the shootout but couldn’t find the back of the net.

The KHL season ends on Sunday with five games left to play, but if the playoffs started now, SKA would face Spartak in the first round. In four games against them in the regular season, SKA kept a 2-1-1 record but was outscored 17-10, including a 7-2 loss the last time the two sides met at the end of February.

As for Demidov, he could only muster a single assist in those four games, although he got the shootout winner in the 4-3 shootout win. SKA hasn’t been in stellar shape of late, keeping a 5-4-1 record in its last 10 games, but before their final game of the season on Sunday, Spartak was also 5-4-1 in their previous 10 contests. Only three points separated the two teams in the standings at the time of writing.

So, although Spartak was better in the season series, no one would start that playoff series as the clear-cut favorite. Do not get excited, though; even if SKA were to lose in the first round, Demidov’s contract wouldn’t be over, and they could still send him to their junior club to help them in their postseason.

Demidov won’t wear the Tricolore until next season, but don’t worry; he will have been worth the wait and I fully expect him to be as, if not more successful in his rookie season than Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov.

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