Magnitka edges out old foe. October 17 round-up

A day after the top two in the West went head-to-head in a high-scoring battle, the biggest beasts of the East assembled for battle in Magnitogorsk. But Metallurg and Ak Bars produced a very different kind of game, with clear-cut chances at a premium. Both sides were happy to shoot on sight, and peppered the goalies with shots from middle distance and long range, but neither found a way to really slice apart the other’s defense. Ak Bars took the lead in the 44th minute when Igor Mirnov swatted home the rebound after Sergei Kostitsyn’s shot looped up off Vasily Koshechkin. But Magnitka tied it up in the 58th minute through Evgeny Biryukov and, after a fine save from Koshechkin denied Ak Bars deep into over time, Danis Zaripov settled the outcome in the shoot-out. Avangard returns to form  Avangard shrugged off its recent troubles to smash Salavat Yulaev 6-2 in Ufa and regain the leadership of the Chernyshev division. Tom Wandell and Evgeny Mozer both scored t ...