A First For The Great Eight #32

Had you not known that Alexander Ovechkin had joined Dynamo Moscow, you would never expect the Great Eight to be wearing #32 in his KHL debut. After all, he made his mark across the world wearing #8, so his changing of numbers in the KHL may have been a little unexpected. However, Alexander Ovechkin was welcomed home to Moscow to join Dynamo, and he did something he hadn't done before as a professional hockey player.

In his very first game, Alexander Ovechkin added an assist to record his first point in the KHL. In his second game against the powerful SKA St. Petersburg earlier today, he scored his very first KHL goal!

The final score wasn't exactly what Ovechkin may have wanted as Dynamo Moscow fell to SKA St. Petersburg 3-1, highlighted by an impressive showing by Kovalchuk, but Ovechkin notched his first KHL goal with, hopefully, many more to come.

Another debut happened this evening as Pavel Datsyuk suited up for his first game with CSKA Moscow. Datsyuk, wearing his familiar #13, also scored in his debut, but you'll see why he is still showing as goalless in the KHL.

Clearly, heading the puck in would be legal if this was soccer, but hockey doesn't allow then header to stand. Datsyuk was in fine form, though, as he won 10 of 12 face-offs taken, and he helped CSKA Moscow down Avangard Omsk by a 1-0 score as the Radulovs - Alex to Igor - gave CSKA the margin they needed for victory.

All in all, a good debut for the NHL Russians in these two games. Kovalchuk was solid, Ovechkin scored his first KHL goal, and Datsyuk was solid in the face-off circle. Maybe we'll get lucky and actually see a few of these games on TV this season if the NHL and NHLPA can't get their acts together. If nothing else, at least the names - and a few numbers - will be recognizable to fans on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!