Battling Yugra
Dangerous when outnumbered
Alexei Tsvetkov scored Severstal’s fifth short-handed goal of the current championship, and now the Cherepovets club share second place with Traktor for total goals scored while killing a penalty. The leader of the pack is Dinamo Riga, with 7 goals. Interesting that Severstal’s short-handed goal came against Barys, and this puts the Astana men top of the list of clubs most likely to allow goals in power play. The Kazakhstan team has been punished for its complacency with 5 goals already.
26 seconds
Avtomobilist scored twice against Dynamo Moscow in just 26 seconds, achieving the 14th fastest double strike of the season. It is the second time the men from Yekaterinburg have made the top twenty, as back in mid-September they hit two in 23 seconds against Neftekhimik. Leading the list is SKA, who needed only 11 seconds to score twice against Ak Bars. It is the first time the Dynamo players have displayed such a lack of concentration, although in the very first game of this championship the Muscovites themselves punished Ak Bars twice in 23 seconds.
Yugra show their teeth
It is the second time the KHL’s new boys have shown an enviable will to win and fought back from two goals down to claim a hard-fought victory. In all, the men from Khanty-Mansiysk have allowed the first two goals on six occasions, whereas today’s victims, Spartak, have enjoyed a 2-0 lead in six games but won only four of them.
Figure of the day
25 minutes and 8 seconds was how long Barys defenseman Kevin Dallman spent on the ice – far and away the highest total of any player, although Kevin’s own average is 26 minutes 55 seconds of playing time.
Key players
Vasily Koshechkin (Severstal). Saved 26 shots while enjoying his sixth victory of the season.
Vitaly Vishnevsky (SKA). In a little over 19 minutes’ playing time he set up one goal and earned a rating of +2.
Maxim Chudinov (Severstal). Supplied the decisive pass in the move which brought the winning goal, and finished at a +1.
Anton But (SKA). Had 5 shots - the highest total in his team – made one assist, and scored the game-winner.
Denis Tolpeko (Dynamo Moscow). Despite being on the ice for under 12 minutes, he had 6 shots at the Avtomobilist goal, and two of them found the target.
Evgeny Muratov (Yugra). In just over 20 minutes on the ice he threatened the opponent’s goal four times, scored a goal and set up another.
Quotes of the day
“When the time came, we gave our all,” – Avtomobilist head coach Evgeny Mukhin.
“Avangard is heading in the right direction,” – Avangard head coach Raimo Summanen.
Alexei Shevchenko, special to khl.ru
