Photo credit: Vitaly Gubin / HC Traktor

Two days after a meteorite struck his hometown of Chelyabinsk, the normally-talkative Evgeny Kuznetsov was quiet. The Washington Capitals prospect and 20-year-old forward made no statement on Twitter. On Sunday, Kuznetsov let us know he was okay with a big breakaway goal in Traktor Chelyabinsk’s final game of the regular season, a 4-1 win over their biggest KHL rival, Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Video below the jump.

Kuznetsov’s breakaway goal is at 2:35. Also, check out a nice tally by the top-ranked power forward of the 2013 Draft, Valery Nichushkin, at 1:50.

In 51 games played this season, Kuznetsov scored 19 goals, the same number he had last year in 49 games. Those 19 goals tie him for 14th in the league. He shares that position with Alex Ovechkin.

Kuznetsov did set career highs in points (44, sixth in the league), assists (25), time on ice (20:38), shots on goal (224), and PIMs (42).

The 2010 first round pick scored two game-winning goals this season and won 90 of 241 faceoffs, 37.3%.

The KHL playoffs are set to start on Wednesday. Traktor is slated to kick off their series at home against Barys Astana on Thursday, though the location or time of their game may change based on meteor damage to Traktor Arena.

Chelyabinsk Region Governor Mikhail Yurevich told the press that Traktor Arena had its windows blown out and suffered structural damage.

Per gubernator74.ru:

In the track and field hall, the old metal constructions have been blown out. We’ll have to replace them and tout the new windows. At the Ural Lightning [rink] the cost of the repairs may be up to 200 million rubles [6.5 million bucks]. There are cracks in Traktor Arena, the windows have been damaged in Yunost Ice Hall. Specialists should evaluate all building constructions, and then we’ll know about the amount of repairs. At the Ural Lightning Rink, the kids were skating and beams fell right on the ice. Thank God no one is hurt. We’ll of course repair everything, but the damage costs are already over 1 billion rubles [33 million dollars].

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that about 40 Russians remained in hospitals Saturday, out of 1,200 who had sought treatment for injuries.

RMNB wishes a speedy recovery to everyone hurt by the blast.

Chelyabinsk Governor Mikhail Yurevich meets with a child injured by the meteor.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Photo credit: KHL.ru

Last night’s meteor that struck Chelyabinsk, Russia, has damaged the Traktor Chelyabinsk’s arena. The KHL is doing an inpection now before a decision can be made whether Traktor can host the first round of the playoffs.

Press release via KHL’s Facebook page below.

The meteor shower which struck Chelyabinsk and its environs has also caused some disruption to the hockey season schedule. The emergency services have confirmed that the walls of the Arena Traktor were among those structures to suffer damage, and therefore large-scale events at the stadium have been postponed.

The sporting facilities will undergo an inspection by experts to assess the readiness of the arena to return to full operational use.

The results of the assessment will be made public on Monday, after which it will become clear whether the Chelyabinsk club can stage the first games of the play-offs. The knockout stages of the Gagarin Cup get underway on Wednesday, and as Traktor is already assured of a top four place in the Eastern conference, the team is due to start the play-offs with home games on the 21st and 22nd of February.

At this time, the meteor shower has not affected Traktor’s schedule, as the Chelyabinsk men finish their regular season campaign with a trip on the road to Magnitogorsk on Sunday. However, three events -today’s and tomorrow’s Youth Hockey League games between Belye Medvedi of Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk’s Stalnye Lisy and Saturday’s planned opening of the Traktor’s museum – have had to be postponed.