Ice hockey: the main stories of 20.09.2026

Yaroslavl's unbeaten start is over, and it went in one direction only: Lokomotiv lost 0:5 at home to Barys. The Astana side now have 4 wins from 6 and travel better than their recent reputation suggests — the same Barys were blanked 3:0 in Magnitogorsk on 19 September, so this is a side still finding its level rather than one on a settled run. For Lokomotiv the concern is not the defeat but the margin: five conceded at home after a clean opening stretch. Barys coach Mikhail Kravets, in remarks carried by one outlet, deflected questions about consistency with a joke about wine strength.

Spartak's five-game winning run ended in Ufa, where Salavat Yulaev won 3:1; 18-year-old defenceman Nikita Shcherbakov opened the scoring on the 8th minute and added an assist, and coach Viktor Kozlov said afterwards, according to one report, that the club is preparing him for New Jersey. Traktor, bottom of the East, took their first regulation win of the season against Avangard, 2:1, ending three straight defeats — a result that arrived with agent Shumi Babayev quoted the same morning saying a Russian coach in Scott Gordon's position would already have been sacked. Novosibirsk, meanwhile, terminated Pavel Tkachenko's contract, the club's press service confirming the release.

• Montreal beat Toronto 4:3 in overtime in pre-season, with Ivan Demidov scoring again.
• One report has Sergei Bobrovsky making his Toronto debut, stopping 10 of 11 in 28:36; Auston Matthews called the summer signing's professionalism impressive.
• Connor McDavid took 2 (1+1) and a "+4" in 19:39 against Vancouver, having avoided injury in a training fall, per one outlet.
• Traktor defenceman Sergei Telegin is out for 3-4 weeks, one source reports; he missed the Avangard fixture.
• Children from the Avangard and Kristall youth sides were hospitalised in Irkutsk with signs of poisoning, according to the regional Investigative Committee.
• Vladimir Plyushchev, quoted by one outlet, said Nikita Gusev has himself to blame for still being unsigned — the same case Krikunov and Rybin addressed on 19 September.
• Avtomobilist lost 3:5 in Minsk, with Alexei Kudashov saying his side conceded very easy goals.
• Pavel Dorofeyev will stay in Connecticut after his move from Vegas; Mika Zibanejad called him a deadly shooter.
• One outlet reports Nick Robertson has taken three practices on Pittsburgh's first line with Crosby and Rakell.
• Slovan Bratislava are weighing a move to the Czech Extraliga, with talks due late September, per iDNES.cz.
• Jori Lehtera, 38, has paused his career and left HIFK.
• Kirill Kaprizov on Mats Zuccarello's departure to Los Angeles: he helped me a lot.
• Alina Bure set out her reasons for divorcing Pavel Bure in a social media Q&A.
• Svetlana Zhurova played down Latvia's entry ban on Alexander Ovechkin.