Loko too strong for Atlant. December 25 round-up

Atlant’s well publicized financial problems have seen the team’s foreign legion depart, and the new-look roster is showing plenty of heart but still finding life tough. That was the story of Thursday’s game at Lokomotiv, with the home side racing into a 5-0 lead but eventually being pegged back to a more respectable 6-3 margin. The first period started perfectly for the host, with Staffan Kronwall opening the scoring after just 66 seconds. That was the first of three goals in the opening six minutes as Atlant was almost blown away. A change of goalie slowed the pace, although Ilya Gorokhov and Emil Galimov stretched the lead to five by the middle of the second stanza before a couple of quick goals from former Loko man Vadim Khlopotov and Artyom Chernov got Atlant on the scoreboard at last. There would be no fairytale, though: Jonas Holos got Loko’s sixth before Nikita Soshnikov completed the scoring in the final session.  Sibir holds on to down Amur again Sibir ...