HC Sochi 4 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (1-0, 1-3, 2-0)

Sochi left it late to snatch victory from its game at home to Metallurg.

Two goals in the last 75 seconds wiped out the visitor’s 3-2 lead and ensured the points remained by the Black Sea. The equalizer came on the power play: Denis Kokarev, making his Metallurg debut, had to watch from the sidelines as his one-time Dynamo Moscow team-mate Alexei Tsvetkov fired home Casey Wellman’s feed to make it 3-3.

Then, when it seemed that overtime was beckoning, Sochi grabbed the winner with 15 seconds left to play. Eric O’Dell went behind the net and picked out a no-look pass on to the stick of Ivan Larichev. Sochi’s 21-year-old prospect shot home his fourth goal in six KHL appearances, and for the second time in his career it was the game-winner.

Magnitka looked to have turned a corner in its previous game, a 4-1 win at Salavat Yulaev, and recovered from falling behind in the last second of the first period to rattle in three goals in five second-period minutes. Sergei Mozyakin cancelled out Adam Polasek’s opener, then Kokarev marked his debut with a goal before Oskar Osala made it 3-1. But Vadim Khomitsky scored late in the session to keep Sochi in contention, and the finale saw the host snap a two-game losing run while Metallurg slipped to four losses from five.

Photo: 28.10.17. KHL Championship 2017/18. HC Sochi (Sochi) - Metallurg (Magnitogorsk)