The KHL's two biggest lockout signings Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin were in the points but not the goals in their first appearances for their old teams Thursday.
Malkin and fellow NHLer Sergei Gonchar got an assist each but were on the end of a 4-3 overtime defeat for Metallurg Magnitogorsk at the hands of 2011 champion Salavat Yulaev Ufa.
"I didn’t show the level of play I intended to show, and it was hard for me," Malkin told Salavat Yulaev's website. "I think that it will be easier in the next game."
But Malin had nothing but praise for the expanding Eastern European league.
"It is good that KHL is improving with every year. I think that the season will be very interesting if the lockout will drag on for a long time.”
There were happier times for Washington Capitals forward Ovechkin, however, who had seven shots and one assist for Dynamo Moscow in a 7-2 demolition of Dynamo Minsk.
"It's great that so many people came to see the team, and me," Ovechkin said. "The stands are full to about 70 percent, it's very nice."
The Nashville Predators' Andrei Kostitsyn couldn’t help his new team Traktor Chelyabinsk win any points in their away game against Ak Bars Kazan.
Both teams scored twice during the first two periods until the hosts demolished Traktor in the third to secure a 6-2 win.
