Top Philadelphia Flyers goalie prospect Egor Zavragin earned his first career KHL win on Monday in HC Sochi’s 5-3 win over Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod.
Zavragin, who just turned 19 on Aug. 23, recorded 37 saves on 40 shots, giving him a .925 save percentage on the evening.
Zavragin made his KHL debut exactly one week ago on Sept. 9, making 29 saves on 31 shots in a 5-4 loss to Vityaz Moscow Region in relief of starter Sergei Ivanov.
Through two games, the Flyers’ 2023 third-round pick has turned aside 66 of 71 shots thrown his way, which is good for an astounding .930 save percentage. For the sake of comparison, Ilya Sorokin posted a .953 save percentage in his D+2 year with CSKA Moscow, while Igor Shesterkin had a .912 for SKA St. Petersburg.
The major difference here, however, is that Zavragin’s Sochi team is significantly worse than powerhouses like CSKA and SKA, which makes his feats between the pipes all the more impressive.
Torpedo forward Vasili Atanasov was a thorn in the Flyers prospect’s side during the special win, scoring all three of his team’s goals from the low slot for a hat trick. Zavragin and Sochi were propelled by braces from Denis Vengryzhanovsky and Jesse Graham in addition to a goal from Artemy Kuznetsov.
Zavragin’s crew also got the best of 6-foot-7 defenseman Anton Silayev, who was drafted by the New Jersey Devils with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Silayev took one minor penalty and played 14:34 of ice time as Zavragin, his future rival with the Flyers, shut Torpedo down.
If Zavragin continues to play every other game, Flyers fans can expect his next start to come on Sept. 22 when Ak Bars Kazan plays host to Sochi.
