Loko halts Avangard’s winning run. August 31 round-up

Loko halts Avangard’s winning run

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3 Avangard Omsk 2 (OT)

Avangard suffered its first defeat of the season as Fyodor Kanareikin’s team hit the road for the first time. Yegor Korshkov got the decisive goal on 63:18, an unassisted goal after he stripped an Avangard man of the puck on his own blue and skated up the ice to beat Dominik Furch. That came seconds after Denis Parshin almost carved out a similar opportunity, only for Patrik Hersley to get back and make the vital challenge. That was Hersley’s second big contribution of the night: the Swedish D-man also got Loko’s second goal, a power play effort to make it 2-1 in the 47^th minute. But it wasn’t enough to win the game outright as Alexander Perezhogin, ever reliable on offense for Avangard, tied it up in the 59^th minute. Earlier the teams played out a goalless first period before trading goals in the middle session. Alexander Kucheryavenko put Avangard up in the 21^st minute; Loko levelled with another power play strike from another Swede when Staffan Kronwall fired home from the blue line in the 36^th minute.

Koltsov strike steals the win for Traktor

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 (OT)

Avtomobilist missed the chance to go top of the KHL table after losing out to a Kirill Koltsov overtime goal. With the teams playing in a 3-on-3 format and less than one minute to play, Finnish D-man Tommi Kivisto slipped at the worst possible moment, allowing Kolstov to steal the puck and sweep in from the boards to score on Igor Ustinsky. Traktor might have won it in regulation, had it been able to build on Yury Petrov’s sixth-minute goal.  Instead Avto built up the pressure in the second period, tying the game on Dmitry Megalinsky’s goal after 30 minutes. Avtomobilist remains tied with Avangard on 10 points at the top of the Eastern Conference, but trails Dynamo by one for the overall lead.

New coach, old problems for Novokuznetsk

Dynamo Moscow 5 Metallurg Novokuznetsk 0

It took just three games for Metallurg Novokuznetsk to dismiss head coach Nikolai Solovyov. That fulfilled GM Sergei Zinovyev’s promise that he would be no soft touch on his return to his home-town club, but under the temporary charge of Valery Zelepukin there was little evidence that changing the coaching staff would be enough to revive the team.

It started badly for the visitor: Yakov Rylov gave the Blue-and-Whites an early lead; the defenseman fifth-minute goal was his first since joining the club from Ak Bars in the summer.

But it was the second period that really sank Kuznya as Dynamo added three goals without reply. Mat Robinson doubled the lead on the power play after 24 minutes and two minutes later Alexei Tereshchenko made it 3-0. Then a short-handed goal from Semyon Kokuyov saw the ex-Traktor man continue his impressive start to the season with his third in four games.

Alexei Sopin added a fifth on the power play as Dynamo cruised to victory, firing in 44 shots on Mikhail Biryukov and Andrei Kareyev, the two visiting goalies. Alexander Lazushin had 14 saves for his shut-out.

Torpedo sinks Medvescak’s winning start

Medvescak Zagreb 1 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 6

Medvescak had picked up three wins from three to open its campaign but saw that run come to a juddering halt as Torpedo recovered from its third-period collapse in Slovakia last time out. Just as at Slovan, Torpedo opened up a commanding lead early on, going 4-0 up by the middle of the second period. But this time the visitor kept its foot on the gas, shrugging off a goal from Genoway Colby and powering to a big victory. Evgeny Grachyov opened the scoring after just 95 seconds to ensure there was no hangover from Monday’s disappointment. Evgeny Mozer doubled that lead in the 19^th minute and second-period strikes from Maxim Osipov and Sam Lofquist, his first for the club, put Torpedo in complete control. Colby got Medvescak on the scoreboard, but a third-period marker from Dmitry Semin and a second of the night from Grachyov put the outcome beyond any doubt. Medvescak’s night got worse when Yann Sauve received a 5+20 for a high hit in the closing minutes.

Around the league

The first Far East derby of the season went to Amur after a 3-1 win over Admiral. The teams traded first-period goals through Kristian Kuusela and Vladimir Tkachyov before Amur won it in the second on strikes from Kirill Kapustin and Jan Kolar. That added up to the home team’s first win of the season, just in time for Thursday’s historic meeting with KHL newcomer Kunlun Red Star. Home comforts seem to suit Slovan as the team picked up its second win in Bratislava following two road losses. HC Sochi was the victim tonight after first-period goals from Patrik Luza and Ivan Svarny set Slovan on its way. Ben Maxwell found the net for the second game running to reduce the deficit in the third, but an empty-netter Pavol Skalicky made the final score 3-1.