Avangard reached the play-off places after completing a fourth win a row – but fans in Omsk had a nervous evening before Amur went down to a 2-3 loss.
Although the home side comfortably outshot its opponent, Amur twice tied the game up before Maxim Goncharov’s powerplay goal early in the third proved decisive. The defenseman broke out from behind his own goal, exchanged passes with Sergei Shirokov and lifted his shot into the top corner to settle the outcome.
Avangard now lies in eighth place, one point ahead of Traktor but having played three games more.
Admiral, playing its first game since the departure of captain and leading scorer Enver Lisin to CSKA, battled hard and two goals from Felix Schutz kept the Vladivostok team in the hunt, but nothing was going to take the shine off Bochenski’s day.
Metalurg Novokuznetsk powered to a 6-1 win at Ugra. Mark Skutar’s 1+3 led the scoring for the visitor.