Avangard in seventh heaven, Minsk rallies for victory

After losing out to Dynamo during the week, Avangard delivered a powerful riposte with a 7-2 victory over the Muscovites on Saturday. In Belarus, Dinamo Minsk recorded its second 3-2 victory of the week against local opposition. This time HC Gomel was the opponent.

Dominant Avangard avenges midweek loss

Dynamo Moscow 2 Avangard Omsk 7 (1-5, 0-1, 1-1)

After Dynamo defeated Avangard in the teams’ first warm-up game, Hawks head coach Bob Hartley insisted that he had never set up a team with the specific aim of winning a pre-season game. Today, though, his players disregarded that skepticism to deliver a resounding revenge victory over the Blue-and-Whites.

Photo: 15.08.20. Friendly match. Dynamo (Moscow) - Avangard (Omsk)

The first period turned into a nightmare for 22-year-old Dynamo goalie Georgy Kuznetsov. The youngster has made just four KHL appearances in his career to date, but will hope for another opportunity to stake a claim to a regular position in the first team after an outing here where everything went wrong. From the moment draft-eligible teenager Yegor Chinakhov opened the scoring in the eighth minute, to the time Maxim Semyonov added a fifth goal in the 18th minute, Kuznetsov suffered a torrid time. Chinakhov was the biggest beneficiary, scoring twice, while Denis Zernov and Alexander Khokhlachyov both collected two assists.

Kuznetsov was replaced at the first intermission and his understudy, 18-year-old Dmitry Menshatov, had a better time in the remaining 40 minutes. He was beaten just twice, both times on the Avangard power play. Finnish defenseman Oliwer Kaski picked up an assist on Sergei Tolchinsky’s latest pre-season tally in the second period before scoring his first since joining Avangard from the AHL.

For Dynamo there was little consolation on a disappointing day. The only bright spot came from summer signing Oscar Lindberg. The Swede, who arrived from Swiss outfit HC Zug, scored both of Dynamo’s goals, one midway through the first period, another late in the third.

Kogalev double completes Dinamo fightback

Dinamo Minsk 3 HC Gomel 2 (0-1, 0-1, 3-0)

For the second time this week, Dinamo Minsk took on a team from the Belarusian championship in a warm-up game. And, for the second time, the Bison came from behind to claim a 3-2 victory. This time, HC Gomel provided the opposition and the fightback took place in the third period.

The visitor jumped to a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals from Alexander Skorenov, the first of them on the power play. Dinamo, meanwhile, was frustrated when its best effort was ruled out midway through the first period for goalie interference.

But in the final stanza, the KHL team hit back to claim the win. Alexei Protas got Dinamo on the scoreboard in the 46th minute, then Alexander Kogalev tied the scores on the power play. Then Skorenov took a minor penalty, and Kogalev potted his second PP goal of the game to give the Bison a 3-2 verdict.