Fight-back Wednesday

Several teams proved that two goals is not too much in a day of fight-backs in the KHL, with five teams recovering 0-2 deficits and three of them going on to win. But it was a bad day for netminders 10 games produced 65 goals.

The most significant recovery came in Chelyabinsk where high-flying Traktor trailed Torpedo 0-2 thanks to a couple of first period goals from Martin Thornberg. The game was turned around with three strikes for the home side in the latter stages of the second period, and Maxim Yakutseniya scored twice more in the third to secure an eventual 6-3 win.

Lokomotiv also had to recover a 0-2 deficit before downing Avtomobilist in overtime following a 3-3 draw in Yekaterinburg. Dmitry Kulikov started the fight-back on 19:55, and finished the job with a powerplay goal in the final second of the extra period.

YugraKhanty-Mansiysk went one better, overturning a 0-3 margin at home to Dinamo Riga and winning 4-3. All the goals came in a remarkable second period, with Riga’s ten-minute treble eclipsed when Ivan Lekomtsev got the game-winner to complete a burst of four goals in less than seven minutes for Yugra.

The two Moscow sides in action on the day also clawed back 0-2 deficits, but neither could push on and win. CSKA’s Alexander Radulov tied the game at Ak Bars Kazan on 46:55, but DanisZaripov and Jarkko Immonen repeated their first-period scoring feats to set up a 5-2 home win.

It was a similar story for Spartak at Avangard Omsk, but the Moscow side’s joy was short-lived as a late surge saw the home side claim a 5-3 verdict. Sergei Kostitsyn got his fifth goal in five along the way.

Malkin tops a point a game
Evgeny Malkin’s personal tally since returning to Metallurg Magnitogorsk broke through the point-a-game barrier with 1+1 in his team’s 3-1 win over Atlant. Enver Lisin scored the first two goals, before setting up Malkin for a last-second empty-netter. Malkin now has 13 points from 12 games following his return to his boyhood club; Magnitka has seven wins in that time.

Around the league
Finnish D-man JanneNiskala got his first points for Dinamo Minsk, putting up 1+1 in a 3-1 home win over Vityaz Chekhov. Geoff Platt scored twice for the Belarusians.

Denis Parshin scored his first goal for SalavatYulaev to help his new team to a 4-2 win over Lev Prague.

Freescoring Barys Astana had its third big win in a row, recovering from an early Clay Wilson goal to thrash Donbass Donetsk 6-1. Brandon Bochenski scored twice for the Kazakh side.

Severstal’s Swedish forward Tom Wandell opened his account for the Cherepovets club with a hat-trick of assists in a 6-0 win over Slovan Bratislava.