Ruling on the road

It was a good day to be on the road in the KHL, with all three of Thursday’s games being won by the visitors.

Metallurg Novokuznetsk was first to strike, with a five-star second period proving good enough to shoot down Eastern Conference leader Sibir in Novosibirsk. Alexander Bumagin led the way with two goals as Metallurg blasted into a 5-1 lead before the second interval, and although Sibir trimmed the deficit it finished 3-5. Jori Lehtera boosted his position as the league’s leading point-scoring with an assist taking him to 17 for the season.

In Nizhnekamsk Michel Miklik did the damage for Slovan as the Bratislava team beat Neftekhimik in a shoot-out. Miklik posted 1+1 in regulation, including an assist as Milan Bartovic tied it at 4-4 with just 65 seconds left to play. Then he went on to score the decisive penalty in the shoot-out, and move Slovan back into the play-off places in the West.

In Ukraine, Dinamo Minsk made it an away day treble with a 5-4 win over Donbass – a result which lifts the Belarusians off the foot of the Western Conference and leaves their opponent in the basement. But even after opening up a 5-1 lead after two periods – Teemu Laine leading the way with two goals – Dinamo did not have it easy. Donbass roared back in the final session, and when Vaclav Nedorost made it 4-5 with just over five minutes to play he set up a nail-biting finale.

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