Going the distance. September 3 round-up
Severstal Cherepovets 2 Ak Bars Kazan 3 (OT)
Ugra Khanty-Mansiysk 2 Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 (SO)
There were only two KHL games on Saturday - but both of them were full value as each went into overtime.
Ak Bars needed the extras to claim victory over Severstal after a Pavel Chernov power play goal tied the game in Cherepovets at 2-2 in the 58th minute. That was enough to give the host one point, but could not stave off defeat - Vladimir Tkachyov grabbed the game winner 45 seconds into overtime, converting a penalty shot after he was fouled by Denis Ezhov.
Earlier Igor Skorokhodov gave Severstal a first-period lead, but Ak Bars got ahead through Alexander Svitov in the 23rd minute and Mikhail Sidorov in the 47th.
In the earlier game, it took penalty shots to separate Ugra and Traktor, with the host eventually claiming the win after a 1-1 tie in regulation. Much of the action came early: Ugra's Yakov Seleznyov was ejected for a high hit after just 45 seconds. Then the teams traded their goals as early as the eighth minute with Alexander Chernikov putting Traktor up only for Andrei Ankudinov to tie it up almost immediately.
Subsequently goalies Alexander Sharychenkov and Vasily Demchenko were on top until the shoot-out, where Pavel Varfolomeyev continued his bright start to the season by poaching the winning goal.
