KHL Recap: Dubrovin finally delivers for Avtomobilist

Scoring your first professional goal is a special moment in every player's career.  Sometimes, it happens within seconds of stepping on the ice for the first time...  usually if you're Mario Lemieux.  But for some players, particularly defensive defensemen, it can take a while.  So when twenty-four year old Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg blueliner Evgeny Dubrovin scored his first career KHL goal on Sunday, it must have been met with as much joy as relief.  Dubrovin broke into the top Russian league in 2005-06 for Avangard Omsk, playing 19 games in what was then called the Russian Super League.  In the following year, he played 49 games for Omsk, and then 39 the next year, all with the constant threat of being sent to their second team.  In 2007-08, he showed rare offensive prowess on the second Omsk team, scoring a goal and adding seven assists in just 9 games, but his offensive potential never revealed itself at the top level.  He switched teams to Sibir Novosibirsk in the KHL's first year, but that only lasted nine games before joining Yekaterinburg in the Russian Major League, sort of the KHL's affiliate league. 

In all, the journey to his first KHL/RSL goal took 157 regular season games, plus 4 playoff appearances, for three different clubs over six seasons.  I wish there was a version of the goal up on YouTube currently (I'll update this if I can find one), just to see the look on his face.  I bet it was the polar opposite of those of the team's fans when they saw him out there for a power play late in the first period of a 1-0 game.  Did head coach Evgeny Popikhin really forsee such a moment? 

Dubrovin, free of the career goose egg, quickly added his second professional goal, this time short handed, in the second period.  Despite this massively unexpected outburst of offence, Yekaterinburg couldn't even come away with a loser point against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk in the battle of the longest team names in the KHL, as the game ended with a 5-4 Neftekhimik victory.  While no one is totally happy when they lose a game, you've got to think that Dubrovin slept particularly well last night.

Speaking of first goals, here's a familiar sight as Maxim Afinogenov breaks in down the wing and notches his first KHL goal:

Join me after the jump for a full list of scores and achievements from Week 2 of the KHL season.

Hat Tricks: Juhamatti Aaltonen, Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

OT Winners:  Andrei Shepelenko, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg; Alexander Guksov, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl; Yegor Shastin, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod.

Leading Scorers: Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev Ufa (1 goal, 8 assists); Denis Platnov (8 goals).

Shutouts:  Jeff Glass, Barys Astana (41 saves); Rastislav Stana, Severstal Cherepovets (32 saves); Steve Valiquette, CSKA Moscow (47 saves); Vasily Koshechkin, Severstal Cherepovets (21 saves).

First Goals:  Evgeny Eremenko, Vityaz Chekhov; Andris Dzerins, Dinamo Riga; Maxim Khudyakov, Barys Astana; Evgeny Dubrovin, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.