Metallurg Magnitogorsk’s unbeaten home run came to an end at the ninth hurdle after Ilya Kovalchuk’s game-winner helped SKA to a 4-1 succcess.
Kovi struck just before halfway, starting a counter-attack from his own goal-line before popping up on the slot to poke home Roman Cervenka’s pass from the right. And within a couple of minutes it was 3-1 thanks to Alexander Kucheryavenko.
That quick-fire double ended Magnitka’s resistance. Although heavily outshot up to then, the home team went in 1-1 at the first interval after Danis Zaripov cancelled out Igor Makarov’s earlier opener for SKA. Maxim Chudinov completed the scoring in the third.
New look Traktor, same old story
Traktor made several changes in response to Wednesday’s 0-7 home defeat, but a new-look defense back-stopped by Vladislav Fokin could not save the team from a fourth successive loss. Andreas Engqvist did the damage for Atlant, opening the scoring in the second minute and getting his second of the game to tie it up at 2-2 late in the second.
In between Stanislav Chistov and Jan Bulis had given the home team the lead, but Traktor coach Valery Belousov was left lamenting his team’s inability to close out the game after Igor Radulov’s second assist of the night saw Pavel Kopytin’s one-timer take the points back to Moscow Region.
Debut delight for Zaborsky
Salavat Yulaev’s new signing Tomas Zaborsky made his debut in Ufa – and promptly grabbed what proved to be the game-winning goal in an 8-3 rout of Severstal. An early blitz put Salavat in complete control with three goals in the first five minutes, before Zaborsky made it 4-0 in the 11th. Yefim Gurkin (0+3) was the leading individual point-scorer as Salavat had eight different goalscorers. Severstal scored two late goals to make the scoreline slightly more respectable.
Loko snaps losing streak
Yegor Averin’s third period goal ended a three-game losing streak for Lokomotiv – but piled on the misery for Neftekhimik. Averin’s strike in the 53rd minute lifted Loko to a 2-1 scoreline and stretched the home team’s losing run to six games.
