Andriyevsky sent off; Nestrasil stars for Neftekhimik. August 8 preseason

KHL clubs were in action in three preseason tournaments in three different countries (Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan) on Tuesday.

Sochi Hockey Open

HC Sochi (Sochi) vs. Kunlun Red Star (Beijing): 2-3 (1-1, 1-1, 0-1)

The 5th-place playoff was contest between hosts HC Sochi, now coached by Sergei Zubov, and Kunlun Red Star, led by Mike Keenan, the coach under whom Zubov won the 1994 Stanley Cup.

The result was a 3-2 win for Kunlun, thanks in part to a goal and an assist from former Canadiens and Predators forward Kostitsyn, who only last season was wearing the colors of HC Sochi.

Sergei Zubov spoke after the game:

"After we scored the first goal we decided we'd already won, and we took our foot off the gas. We played quite well at times, and we created a few chances at the end, but we didn't do enough to win."

Goals: 1-0 – Khomitsky (Mamkin, 07.04), 1-1 – Kostitsyn (Squires, Kulda, 18.47), 2-1 – Pedan (Wellman, Garbutt, 31.43), 2-2 – Makarov (Gynge, 35.13), 2-3 – Kane (Squires, Kostitsyn, 56.05)

Goaltenders: Konstantin Barulin – Magnus Hellberg

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Cup

Neftekhimik (Nizhnekamsk) vs. HC Davos (Davos): 4-3 (1-1, 2-1, 1-1)

Former Detroit Red Wings and Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrej Nestrasil assisted on one goal and scored two more, including a dramatic game-winner with 11 seconds remaining, to help Andrei Nazarov's Neftekhimik continue its dazzling run of results and seal a 4-3 victory against HC Davos of Switzerland.

The win was the Nizhnekamsk Men's third in as many days, and propels them to the top spot in the tournament standings.

Andrei Nazarov said, "We specifically requested that the organizers gave us three games in three days, so we could see and evaluate the progress of our preseason training. We have clearly been preparing very well, although we had a bit of luck with that goal at the end. Overall, I'm satisfied - three points is three points."

Goals: 1-0 Ogurtsov (Nestrasil , Poryadin , 01.07), 1-1 Little (Wieser, Schneeberger, 18.29), 1-2 Kousal (Ambuhl, Paschoud, 26.40), 2-2 Sergeyev (Hanzl , Sexton , 30.32, PPG) 3-2 Nestrasil (Sharipzyanov , 31-31, PPG), 3-3 Wieser (53.54), 4-3 Nestrasil (Piganovich, 59.49, PPG).

Goaltenders: Makarov - Senn

Traktor (Chelyabinsk) vs. Admiral (Vladivostok): 3-0 (1-0, 2-0, 0-0)

The other game in the tournament saw the preseason's first sending off of a coach. Admiral boss Alexander Andriyevsky was sent to the locker room in the first period after expressing his disapproval at the referees after two penalties had handed Traktor a 5-on-3 powerplay. Maxim Yakutsenya took full advatage of the numerical superiority to make the score 1-0, and two unanswered Chelyabinsk goals in the second period meant the match was more or less over as a contest by the 35-minute mark.

After the game, Mr. Andriyevsky reflected on a bad day for his team

"Yes, I got a little heated after the two penalties, but that's for the referees to decide... As for the game, we made a lot of individual mistakes and frequently lost possession in the neutral zone, especially in areas by the blue line. Nothing really worked out in our team play, and that is why we got this result."

Goals: 1-0 Yakutsenya (Petrov, 09-19, PPG), 2-0 Polygalov (Bailen, Szczechura, 24.48, PPG), 3-0 Videll (Polygalov, Vishnevsky , 34.08).

Goaltenders: Francouz – Tretyak.

Wingas Cup

Tuesday was the opening day of the Wingas Cup tournament in Kassel, Germany, contested by the hosts, EC Kassel Huskies, and three KHL clubs: Dinamo Riga, Vityaz Moscow Region and Slovan Bratislava.

Slovan's disappointing preseason continued with a narrow 2-3 loss at the hands of Sandis Ozolins's Dinamo Riga, while Valery Belov's Vityaz continued its impressive run with an emphatic 4-1 victory over the hosts.

Slovan (Braislava) vs. Dinamo (Riga): 2-3 (1-1, 0-2, 1-0)

Goals: 0-1 – Meija (Sevcenko, Redlihs , 01.47), 1-1 – Buchtele (Kaspar, Ebert , 03.21), 1-2 – Kristo (Gillies, Indrasis, 22.21), 1-3 – Sevcenko (Redlihs, Galiardi, 31.40), 2-3 – Stastny (Ramstedt, Taimi, 59.18)

Goaltenders: Janus – Kalnins

EC Kassel Huskies (Germany) vs. Vityaz (Moscow Region): 1-4 (1-1, 0-1, 0-2)

Vityaz goalscorers: 0-1 Horak (Shvets-Rogovoi, 7.42), 1-2 Shvets-Rogovoi (Vyglazov, Nikulin, 28.03), 1-3 Afinogenov (Kopeikin, 55.24), 1-4 Vyglazov (Mankinen, 55.45)

Other preseason games:

Dynamo (Moscow ) – Amur (Khabarovsk): 1-2 SO (1-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-0, 0-1)

Goals: 1-0 – Varnakov (01-00), 1-1 – Dedunov (48-25), 1-2 – Potekhin (ПБ)

Goaltenders: Bocharov – Kiselyov

Jokerit (Helsinki) – Sibir (Novosibirsk) – 4-1 (3-0, 0-0, 1-1)

Goals: 1-0 – O'Neill (Huhtala, Tolvanen, 11.27), 2-0 – Anttila (Marjamaki, Niemi, 11.54), 3-0 – Jalvanti (Anttila, Niemi, 13.01), 4-0 – Joensuu (Gilroy, Jensen, 45.11), 4-1 – Levitsky (Zemchenko, Konkov, 59.52)

Goaltenders: Zapolski – Salak