Just two days after suffering a 5-2 thumping against bitter rivals Spartak, Dynamo turned the tables on their Moscow rivals with a narrow win at Megasport. Despite launching wave upon wave of attacks on the visitors' goal, however, it took the Blue-and-Whites a long time to finally break the resistance of Spartak goalie Ivan Kasutin.
Indeed it was Spartak who struck first through Anatoly Nikontsev's powerplay goal on 10:58 - labelled 'lucky' by Dynamo defenseman Janne Jalasvaara - giving them a lead they held until the first interval after Sergei Konkov and Konstantin Volkov both missed good chances. But on 28:01 Leonid Komarov finally levelled the scores, firing past Kasutin at the second attempt. Dynamo continued to lay siege to the Spartak goal, but had to endure more frustration before Grigory Shafigulin, making his first appearance of the season, thumped home the go-ahead goal.
Forced to attack, Spartak raised their game in the closing stages but even with two powerplays they could not find a way through. A combination of good goaltending from Alexander Yeryomenko and astute defensive play held them at bay while both Volkov and Artem Chernov missed good chances to ease Dynamo nerves late in the game.
Unhappy return
Tomas Surovy scored twice against his old club - but CSKA's head coach Julius Supler did not have a successful return to Riga. Dinamo ran out 5-3 winners, thanks largely to clinical first-period finishing. Despite being outshot 14-11, the hosts reached the interval 3-1 ahead through Fredrik Warg, Sandis Ozolins and Ainars Podzins. Mikelis Redlihs added a goal to his two assists early in the second period but after CSKA replaced the goalie they launched a fightback through Sergei Shirokov and Surovy. Guntis Galvins steadied Latvian nerves, making it 5-3 on 52:09.
To Russia with problems
Lev Poprad made their first appearance on Russian ice - but after a blistering start the Slovaks were quickly pegged back by SKA St Petersburg. Stepan Novotny had the honor of getting Lev's first away goal this season, just 46 seconds into the match, but the hosts' class was quick to show. Mattias Weinhandl got the equalizer on 3:21 and two goals late in the second period from Fyodor Fyodorov and Maxim Rybin put SKA in complete control. Petr Prucha's goal on 55:49 completed the scoring in SKA's 4-1 win. For the newboys, the quest for a first win in the KHL continues.
Around the league
In Novokuznetsk a goal from Randy Robitaille gave Metallurg a 2-1 victory against visitors Amur Khabarovsk. Andrei Kuzmin picked up two assists for the winners.
Also in Siberia, Avangard Omsk suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat at home to Sibir Novosibirsk. The goals came from Jonas Enlund and Anton Malyshev.
