Firsts Of The KHL Season

The guy in white in the heavily-watermarked KHL photo is former Manitoba Moose and Vancouver Canuck forward Brandon Reid. Brandon Reid has played all over the globe through his hockey pursuits, but this is his first season in the KHL. Of course, that means that any accomplishment would be a "first" for him in the KHL, but we're looking strictly at goals from two men today for two completely different reasons.

Because Brandon Reid is a friend of The Hockey Show, we are keeping tabs on his progress this season as he tries to win the Gagarin Cup with CSKA Moscow. The Red Army team has started slow, but Brandon recorded his first goal in a 4-1 win over Donbass Donetsk on September 10. After scouring YouTube, we finally have video of Brandon Reid's first KHL goal!

And this guy wasn't offered an NHL contract? Wow. You think Florida can use some help down the middle from a skilled player? In any case, that was a nice move to get the puck to his forehand, and then to find some space to shovel the backhander by the goaltender? Yeah, Reid's pretty darn good. Fantastic goal for his first goal of the season and his first KHL goal in his illustrious career!

Of course, everyone will be keeping eyes on the $80-million man. Ilya Kovalchuk finally notched his first goal on September 10 as well as SKA St. Petersburg downed Yugra 5-1 in their game. Here is Kovalchuk's first KHL goal of the season.

That's not exactly how Kovalchuk planned to start the season after his incredible KHL campaign during the recent lockout, but one goal is the best start to getting many goals. Kovalchuk has picked up steam as he had a second goal in the following game, and is now up to five points on the season in four games. While most would say that kind of point production isn't worth $20 million annually, Kovalchuk is starting to pick up steam.

We'll be tracking Brandon Reid's stats all season here on HBIC and on The Hockey Show, so stay tuned to hear more if you're a fan of the speedy forward. Reid has an assist in his fourth game to extend his point streak to two games, but CSKA Moscow fell to Spartak Moscow 3-2. CSKA currently has a record of 1-2-1-0 (W-L-OTW/SOW-OTL/SOL) and sit in eighth-place in the Western Conference, but there are still fifty games to play. I expect the Red Army team to be challenging for home-ice advantage in the playoffs as the season progresses with the talent they have.

Congratulations to Brandon Reid on his first KHL goal, immortalized here on HBIC!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!