Metallurg Magnitogorsk’s newly signed goalie Alexei Murygin had his first shut-out for his latest employer, making 26 saves to blank Lada.
Magnitka won the game 2-0 thanks to second-period goals from Mikhail Yunkov and Danis Zaripov, returning to winning ways at the start of the New Year.
Jokerit overpowers Dinamo Minsk
Jokerit withstood a Dinamo Minsk recovery before downing the Belarusians 5-2 in Helsinki.
The home side seemed to have the game sewn up inside 15 minutes after racing into a 3-0 lead. Juhamatti Aaltonen, Ryan Gunderson and Tommi Huhtala did the damage with a trio of impressive goals.
But Dinamo rallied through Alexei Kalyuzhny and Ryan Vesce to make it a one-goal game early in the second and put Jokerit under some unexpected pressure.
The game remained in the balance until late on when Niko Kapanen scored off a Niklas Hagman pass to make the points safe for the Finns, Tomi Maki’s empty-netter wrapped up the victory.
Neftekhimik get the better of Avto
Neftekhimik edged a shoot-out win at Avtomobilist following a 2-2 tie. Andrei Ivanov got the winner, scoring the 10th penalty of the shoot-out to finally break the deadlock. Avto took the game to overtime through Alexander Nesterov’s 57th-minute goal.
