Evgeny Kuznetsov faces pressure on and off the ice. (Photo credit: Vitaly Gubin / HC Traktor)

Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov continues his KHL playoff run. After a tough 4-3 series win over Barys Astana in the first round of the playoffs, Traktor dethroned Eastern Conference champions Avangard Omsk in five games.

Goalie Michael Garnett stole the show in the series, shutting out Avangard in all four victories. He allowed three goals – all in the fourth game of the series won by Avangard (3-1). He was perfect in the other four (5-0, 3-0, 3-0, 4-0). To celebrate the stellar play of their goalie, Traktor fans painted a banner: a brick wall with “MICHAEL” written over it.

Unlike Garnett, Kuznetsov wasn’t crucial to Traktor’s series triumph. The young right wing put up three points (two goals and an assist) in the series, giving him five through 12 postseason games this year.

In the final game of the series, Kuznetsov sealed victory with an empty-net goal 1:04 before the final buzzer.

His goal is at the 5:34 mark.

Now, Kuznetsov will try to right the ship in the Eastern Conference finals, where they will face the winner of the “Green Rivalry” – one of the most heated rivalries in the KHL featuring Eastern powerhouses Ak Bars Kazan and Salavat Yulaev Ufa — teams that combined for three of the first four Gagarin Cup titles. Last year’s winner, Dynamo Moscow, will play SKA St. Petersburg in a re-match of last season’s Western Conference finals. So three of the of four teams that played in the conference finals last year (Traktor, Dynamo and SKA) have made it that far again this year.

LATE UPDATE: No immediate confirmed reports of casualties. See the AP for more information.

We’re getting all kinds of information about explosions in Chelyabinsk, the city in the Ural region of Russia that hosts Evgeny Kuznetsov’s KHL team. Information is sparse right now, and we do not want to speculate.

Windows have been blown out. The sky is streaked with contrails. Evacuations are underway.

Michael Garnett, goalie for Chelyabinsk, is okay:

Meteorite shook Chelyabinsk this morning. Shook my whole building and woke me up!#челябинск youtube.com/watch?v=4ZxXYs…

— Michael Garnett (@MichaelGarnett) February 15, 2013

We’ll update this post when we have actual facts. For now we just hope everyone is safe.

From Phil Plait of Slate

Phil Plait of Slate published this article on his Bad Astronomy blog on Monday:

On Friday, Feb. 15, the Earth is going to get a very close shave by an asteroid*. Called 2012 DA14, this 50 meter (160 foot) rock will pass just over 27,000 kilometers (17,000 miles) from the Earth’s surface. This is closer than our geosynchronous satellites, so this really is a close pass!

But, to be very clear: This asteroid poses no threat to us right now, nor in the foreseeable future. Friday’s miss is just that: a miss. And, in fact, this is a good thing, since any time an asteroid gets close (but misses), we learn a lot, including how to find them, how to track them, and even how to talk about them to the public.

Plait responds to the news:

I don’t *think* this meteor is related to #2012DA14; a solid 12+ hours ahead; DA14 is still pretty far out. Coincidence?

— Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) February 15, 2013

Plait continues to dismiss a connection to DA14. See his feed for more.

More Tweets, Images, and Links

Here’s the host of Echo on Moscow radio, Alexander Plushev. He is relaying early information from major Russian news agencies.

Над Челябинской областью прошел метеоритный дождь, пожара не последовало – МЧС уральского региона

— Plushev (@plushev) February 15, 2013

RMNB translation: Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ural Region: meteorite rain over Chelyabinsk Region, no fire

Voice of Russia has an item about the Chelyabinsk Event

An emergency official tells Reuters:

It was definitely not a plane. We are gathering the bits of information and have no data on the casualties so far.

Кусок астероида попал в цинковый завод #chelly twitter.com/a_koretsky/sta…

— Александр Корецкий(@a_koretsky) February 15, 2013

челябинск. Кусок астероида попал в Цех Цинкового заводав #chelly twitter.com/APodpyatnikov/…@apodpyatnikov”

— Денис (@Dokhrimovich) February 15, 2013

UPDATE: This is a photo of a zinc plant in Chelyabinsk. There is no possibility of a zinc leak right now.

2 корпус ЮУрГУ после случившегося #chelly twitter.com/KozzyKoder/sta…

— Vladimir Pestov (@KozzyKoder) February 15, 2013

Небо над Шершнями после взрыва #chelly twitter.com/Pisya/status/3…

— Пися (@Pisya) February 15, 2013

Additional reporting by Ian Oland and Fedor Fedin.

Photo credit: Valery Zvonarev / KP.ru Chelyabinsk

In their third game of the 2012-13 KHL season, Traktor met Western Conference powerhouse SKA at home in Chelyabinsk. Evgeny Kuznetsov entered the game with two goals. He left with three.

Kuznetsov also tallied his first two-point performance of the year. His first point came very early in the game, as he got credit for a secondary assist on Jan Bulis‘ goal less than three minutes into the game. That goal tied the game at one. Things quickly unraveled for Traktor however, as SKA scored twice more to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

The score remained unchanged for the next 39 minutes, despite both teams trading chances (one of the biggest opportunities was a Kuznetsov breakaway denied by goaltender Ilya Yezhov). With about a minute to go in the third period, Kuznetsov finally broke through, skating the puck into SKA’s offensive zone guarded by two men. After his initial shot was blocked from the slot, Kuznetsov, out-battled three other defenders and got to the rebound first, snapping a shot past Yezhov. Kuznetsov celebrated by jumping high into the boards near center ice. Despite a late flurry, SKA, led by their netminder, managed to keep their one-goal lead and win 3-2. The game’s highlights can be seen under the jump.

Kuznetsov’s assist is at 0:50 mark, his breakaway is at 3:55 mark, and his goal is at the 6:00 mark.

The game also featured double goalie change for Traktor – something you don’t see very often in the KHL. After a bad first period, Michael Garnett was replaced by Vladislav Fokin coming out for the second. But with four minutes to go in the second, Fokin, who made a spectacular flashy save a few minutes before, was replaced by Garnett. This seemed irrational, but in the interview during the second intermission (you can watch part of it at 5:35 in the video) Kuznetsov told KHL-TV that he “saw Fokin limping” and that was confirmed by coach Valery Belousov in a post-game presser.

Traktor is now 2-1 on the year and will next play Dynamo Moscow on Sunday.

Photo credit: 74hockey.ru

Don’t look now, but wayward Capital Evgeny Kuzetsov has started the 2012-13 KHL season with two goals in two games.

In Traktor Cheylabinsk’s first away game of the year on Monday, the defending Continental Cup champions held a huge shot advantage over Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (41-24), but were unable to crack Avtomobilist’s all-star goalie Chris Holt through two periods. With less than nine minutes to go in the game however, Traktor finally dented the twine. After a Avtomobilist defender turned the puck over at center ice, Kuzya sprinted the puck into the offensive zone and wristed a shot past Holt glove side. The goal was unassisted.

Kuzya’s goal is at the very beginning of the video.

Andrey Popov then scored a few minutes later, and Maxim Yakutsenya sealed it with a late empty-netter — giving Traktor two straight wins over divisional rivals to start the season.

Kuznetsov, who led the KHL in game-winning goals last year (9 of his 19 were GWGs), is off to the races again this season. On the other end of the ice, thanks to goalie Michael Garnett, Traktor is the only KHL team not to allow a goal.

It’s not all good news for Traktor though: Kuznetsov’s goal celebration was meh. So much for consistency.

On Thursday, Traktor takes on SKA and then a day after the NHL CBA is set to expire, they will play Dynamo Moscow. No word yet, if a certain great eight will suit up.

Washington Capitals top prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov opened the 2012-13 season with style on Thursday, scoring an empty-net goal in Traktor Chelyabinsk’s 2-0 victory over KHL rival Metallurg Magnitogorsk. But that wasn’t all. Since Kuzya can’t do anything without a tinge of controversy, he decided to celebrate his goal by dropping down in Metallurg’s offensive zone and doing push-ups. For a man who has in the past both canoed and swam down the length of the ice after scoring, this seems a bit reserved for him.

Below the jump, check out the video.

Kuznetsov’s goal is scored 20 seconds in and the push-ups are at the 35 second mark.

Former Thrasher Michael Garnett also posted a shutout and Deron Quint, known for his time with six different NHL franchises, scored the game-winner for Traktor. After a four-day break, Traktor Chelyabinsk will play again on Monday against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

GIF by cadetsandkings.tumblr.com.