Kuznetsov during warm-ups. Photo credit: 74hockey.ru

Coming into Sunday’s game, Traktor Cheylabinsk’s fourth of the season, Caps top prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov had scored in every game he played in. Sunday kept that streak going.

Against the KHL’s defending Gagarin Cup champions Dynamo Moscow, Kuznetsov had his second straight two-point game, scoring a goal and recording an assist in the victory.

In the middle of the second period, Kuzya scored his fourth goal of the season, taking a tremendous pass from Stanislav Chistov and scoring on a breakaway to put his team up by two, 3-1.

Just six minutes later, the Caps 2010 first-round pick perfectly laid out a pass for Dmitry Ryabykin, who blasted a puck that was deflected by Jan Bulis to make it 4-1 Traktor. That ended up being the final score.

Kuznetsov’s goal is at the 3:00 mark, his assist at 4:10.

It also was a special game for Valery Belousov as Traktor’s head coach participated in his career 1175th game (International Hockey League, Russian Superleague, KHL). He broke the record of the great Viktor Tikhonov. Only four coaches have passed the 1000-game mark, and only two of them are active – Belousov and Barys’ Vladimir Krikunov. Belousov has coached Russia’s “Big Eastern Three” teams – Traktor, Avangard Omsk, and Metallurg Magnitogorsk. He also has three championships under his belt – two with Metallurg, one with Avangard.

Notes: Belousov told the media after the game that newly-signed Andrei Kostitsyn (formerly of the Predators and Canadiens) will play on Traktor’s upcoming road trip. However, he didn’t disclose who the former NHLer will play with. It is rumored he will join Jan Bulis and Kuznetsov on the first line.