Pre-season success for home teams continued on Monday with SKA claiming the Puchkov Memorial Trophy in St. Petersburg.
The final day of play saw the Army Men overcome Jokerit to secure top spot ahead of Avangard, who had earlier disposed of HC Sochi by a 2-1 margin. SKA’s 4-2 victory was built on two goals from Viktor Tikhonov as the host twice came from behind before completing a four-game sweep of the tournament. Earlier, Ilya Vorobyov’s team won 4-1 against Kunlun Red Star, 4-2 against Avangard and 2-0 against HC Sochi.
Photo: 27.08.18. Nikolai Puchkov memorial tournament. SKA (St.Petersburg) - Jokerit (Helsinki)
Marko Anttila gave Jokerit an early lead and Niklas Jensen made it 2-1 at the first intermission after Tikhonov had opened his account for the night. Pavel Datsyuk got involved as Nikita Gusev tied the game in the middle frame and Tikhonov’s second put SKA in front shortly before the hooter. In the final stanza, Ilya Kablukov’s empty net goal sealed the win for SKA and ensured top spot on home ice.
Runner-up Avangard’s tournament saw the arrival of a trio of Lokomotiv players, Max Talbot, David Desharnais and goalie Alexei Murygin. Desharnais, an experienced Canadian forward who left Yaroslavl before managing a competitive game for Loko, made an immediate impact with two goals on his debut against Severstal.
Photo: 27.08.18. Nikolai Puchkov memorial tournament. Avangard (Omsk region) - HC Sochi (Sochi)
Apart from SKA, the team with the happiest outcome in Petersburg may well be Kunlun Red Star. The Chinese team finished with three wins from its four games, recovering well from an opening 1-4 loss to the eventual winner to beat Sochi and edge Jokerit in overtime. Ville Lajunen got the decisive goal against one of his former clubs, before a new offensive combination of Taylor Beck, Justin Fontain and recent arrival Rok Ticar strutted its stuff against Severstal, combining four times in a 5-1 victory.
Jokerit took fourth place, one point ahead of Severstal. Sochi finished bottom after losing all four games.
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All rights to materials posted on the website www.khl.ru (hereinafter referred to as the Website) and which are the objects of exclusive rights, including the registered trademarks and symbolics of the “КХЛ”/“KHL”, “МХЛ” / “JHL”, “ЖХЛ” / “WHL” (hereinafter referred to as the Trademarks), as well as on photo and video images, articles, etc., which are owned by CHL LLC, are protected in compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. The placement and / or use of Trademarks and other intellectual property of CHL LLC without the direct consent of CHL LLC are considered and prosecuted as intellectual property rights violations of CHL LLC in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. It is forbidden to automatically extract information from the Website by any services without the official permission of CHL LLC. Quoting from the Website and satellite projects of the official messages of the Kontinental Hockey League is allowed only with a direct link to the site www.khl.ru.