Salavat sinks SKA. October 20 round-up

Salavat Yulaev defeated KHL leader SKA 4-2 to climb to third in the Eastern Conference. The home team made a lively start and reaped an early reward with Kirill Koltsov’s fifth minute goal. SKA’s response from Patrick Thoresen brought parity – but only briefly as Yegor Dubrovsky made it 2-1 within 40 seconds.

After a scoreless second session, Nikita Filatov got the eventual game-winner in the 43rd, and although Alexei Ponikarovsky made it a one-goal game once again, Alexander Pankov wrapped it up in the last minute.

Traktor snaps losing streak
Traktor’s troublesome losing streak was halted with a 2-1 success over Lokomotiv – and a winning return for goalie Mike Garnett. The Chelyabinsk team has leaked goals alarmingly this season, but tonight things were tighter in the home zone with Garnett making 32 saves as Traktor tasted its first win in five outings.

On offense, though, it was definitely a case of quality over quantity: two goals came from just 17 shots, with second period strikes from Andrei Popov and Alexei Bondarev doing enough to top Daniil Apalkov’s response for Loko. However, both teams currently lie outside of the play-off spots – a huge surprise and a huge disappointment for a pair of organizations with high hopes going into the current campaign.

Magnitka’s late rush
Two goals in the 54th minute took Metallurg Magnitogorsk to a 4-2 win over Severstal. Danis Zaripov once again led the scoring, getting two on the night including the all-important go-ahead goal on a Sergei Mozyakin assist. It took just 23 seconds for Milan Gulas to stretch that advantage, and Severstal’s resistance was finally broken.

Milovzorov can’t save Neftekhimik
Yegor Milovzorov spared Neftekhimik a regulation time defeat, finding the net on 59:27 to tie the game with Atlant at 3-3. But the home side was unable to snap its losing streak, going down to Yury Trubachyov’s goal in a shoot-out and stretching its struggles to seven games.