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Continental Hockey League (KHL) -  The end of the inaugural KHL season could not have been written a better way than this! Well it could have been with more scoring, but a game seven between the league’s two strongest clubs was a great way to finish it after an entertaining series. The somewhat underdog Kazan came up on top, with Alexei Morozov (Pittsburgh Penguins) scoring the only goal in the last period of the game. The club was an underdog since it has lost a few of its top players in the past two seasons including Sergei Zinovjev (Boston Bruins), Alexei Tereschenko (Dallas Stars) and goalie Alexander Eremenko . However, while some of the replacements have not been as impressive a few young players and newcomers have come up big in the series including Andrei Pervyshin (St. Louis Blues) and Nikita Alexeev (Chicago Blackhawks). Pervyshin has been a long time member of Ak Bars after leaving Lokomotiv but only this year has he become a regular contributor at the top level, while Nikita Alexeev (Chicago Blackhawks) has bounced between Russia and NHL, showing signs of immense potential but failing to break-out in either league. Lokomotiv was close to winning the series on several occasions, but the break down point for the club, despite the series continuing for another week must have been the failure to keep the 3:0 lead in game two that was eventually won by Ak Bars after a spectacular come back. Alexei Yashin and a few imported players are the clear leaders of the squad and it will be interesting to see what happens next year and whether Yashin will remain in Russia or return to the NHL after a two season absence.

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Continental Hockey League (KHL) -  It was clear that Dynamo soundly beat Ak Bars after just two periods of action when the two teams went into the locker rooms for the second break with the Moscow club leading 4:1. Eric Landry scored two of the tallies, while Denis Denisov (Buffalo Sabres) and Kalyuzhni netted one each. Oleg Petrov scored the lonely goal for Ak Bars early on, but the game was never really close. Dynamo dominated the action and had plenty of chances to widen the lead if not for the play of back up Stanislav Galimov during the latter half of the game after he replaced Finnish netminder Norrena in net. The third period took an ugly turn when it became clear that Dynamo was the victor, as Ak Bars players begun to take runs and play more physically. An ugly incident broke out when Nikita Alexeev (Chicago Blackhawks) fought Daniil Markov , as it was especially unpleasant since Alexeev started the fight with Markov’s back to him, as Markov was trying to settle things with another Kazan player Obukhov first. Markov still got the better of Alexeev, though it was impressive for the lanky former NHL forward to even try to go at Dynamo captain and former NHL hard nosed defenseman. Another scare happened even later in the game when a Kazan forward drove to the net and then went practically skates first into Vitali Eremeev, though fortunately no one was hurt. Denis Denisov (Buffalo Sabres) was also hit in the boards in the last minutes and had to be escorted to the locker room, though he appears to be ok as well. Now the series are tied 2:2 in the best of seven series, and the next game will take place in Kazan on Wednesday.

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Super League -  Former NHLer and Ak Bars forward Nikita Alexeev (Chicago Blackhawks) suffered a serious foot injury after taking a slap shot to his right foot and breaking it. The young forward has had a sub-par season with Ak Bars in a limited role, but did add a package of size and some skill to the club’s roster. Repotedly he will need at least two months to recover from the injury.

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Nikita Alexeev (Chicago Blackhawks)'s game worn HC Avangard jersey added READ MORE

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Russian Super League -  Avangard crushed Metallurg 4:1 yesterday during Super League's fourth tour. Courtesy of Avangard's press department, below please find the links to video replays of Nikita Alexeev's (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Dmitri Pestunov's (Phoenix Coyotes) goals:
Nikita Alexeev goal 1 (1:0)
Nikita Alexeev goal 2 (4:0)
Dmitri Pestunov's goal (4:1)

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Russian Super League -  After a month long tryout, former first round pick Nikita Alexeev (Tampa Bay Lightning) signed a one year deal with Avangard. The young forward joined the club along with Alexander Svitov (Columbus Blue Jackets) in early July , but while Svitov joined the club with a full contract, Alexeev came on tryout basis. The contract’s details are unclear in regards to his ability to return to the NHL, which remains a possibility since the Tampa Bay Lightning extended him a qualifying offer.

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Nikita Alexeev appears to be recovering from his shoulder injury and Evgeni Artukhin continues to be a menace on the boards according to the The Republican article by Fran Sypek:

"This is a 60-minute game and we know we can't win if we only play well for 20 or 40 minutes," forward Nikita Aleexev said.

Aleexev bears watching now that he appears recovered from shoulder woes that limited him to 14 games last season and caused him to miss seven games this season. A former No. 1 draft choice, the Russian has size, speed and a powerful shot.

"He can really be a dominant player at this level," Graham said. "He was really starting to play well before the injury and since he's come back, he been working extremely hard."

The parent Tampa Bay Lightning expect him to score goals and he expects the same. Playing on a line with countryman Evgeni Artukhin should only help Aleexev.

It did against Albany last Friday when River Rats defenseman Dean McAmmond had the puck deep in his own zone. He wanted no part of the charging 6-foot-5, 258-pound Artukhin on the forecheck.

McAmmond coughed up the puck. It went right to Aleexev, who swooped in and scored unassisted. Atrukhin may not have earned an assist on the goal, but his aggressive play was responsible for it.