Advantage Avangard

SKA missed its chance to win the Sochi Hockey Open with a day to spare, losing 3-1 to Avangard in Sunday’s big game. The Hawks are now top of the table. Elsewhere, Ak Bars enjoyed another big win while Dynamo is still searching for its first summer success.

Liga Stavok Sochi Hockey Open: Avangard upsets SKA, Sochi suffers fourth straight loss

Admiral Vladivostok 0 Dinamo Minsk 2 (0-0, 0-0, 0-2)

Alexei Kolosov posted the first shut-out of this tournament, winning a goaltending duel against Nikita Serebryakov in Sunday’s opening game beside the Black Sea.

The two netminders were on top for most of this game, which remained scoreless until the 50-minute mark. Initially, Dinamo enjoyed more possession but struggled to create scoring chances. Gradually, Craig Woodcroft amended his team’s gameplan and saw more problems for Serebryakov.

The Sailors were saved by the piping in the second period when Roman Gorbunov’s shot got past the goalie, but it wasn’t until 51^st minute that Pavel Varfolomeyev broke the deadlock. That’s the forward’s third goal in four games here. It proved decisive, although the outcome was in doubt until the final second when Dmitry Sokolov scored into an empty net.

SKA St. Petersburg 1 Avangard Omsk 3 (1-0, 0-1, 0-2)

Avangard inflicted a first defeat on SKA at this tournament and, in doing so, moves into pole position to win it all. SKA could have sealed top spot in the table with victory today, but now finds itself level with the Hawks with one game each remaining.

The game was always the most eye-catching on the card here and it attracted the biggest crowd of the competition to date, with more than 4,000 tickets sold.

And the action scarcely resembled summer hockey, with both teams eager to prove a point against one of the leading contenders in the coming season. The early play was cautious and errors were swiftly punished. The first penalty of the game was converted by SKA’s Mikhail Vorobyov; the second led to a tying goal courtesy of Christian Jaros.

Subsequently the teams traded power play chances. Avangard got the puck into Alexander Samonov’s net once again, but only after the hooter brought an end to the second period. However, a fourth advantage for the Hawks was one too many and Reid Boucher gave Avangard the lead for the first time in the game early in the third period.

Both those goals were assisted by Sergei Tolchinsky, and he wrapped up a good day with an empty net goal to seal the win.

Avangard’s win moves it level with SKA in the standings, and the Hawks have the advantage in the head-to-head tie-breaker. It’s hard to see Omsk relinquishing top spot the concluding games: on Tuesday it faces Admiral, while SKA takes on Russia U25.

HC Sochi 1 Russia U25 6 (0-1, 0-4, 1-1)

Host club Sochi continued its unhappy run at this tournament, going down to a heavy loss against Russia’s U25s. Dmitry Buchelnikov, a second-round pick for the Red Wings, led the way. The 18-year-old, currently part of the SKA organization, had a hand in the first five goals. Clubmate Maxim Groshev, 20, potted two of them.

Everything went wrong for Sochi in the middle frame. The opening stanza produced just one goal, scored by Groshev with an assist from Buchelnikov. At the start of the second, though, the 18-year-old winger scored his first of the evening and that triggered a rush of four goals in eight minutes. Groshev and Buchelnikov scored and assisted once more, with Kirill Tankov moving to three helpers in the process. That chased starting goalie Alexei Melnichuk from the net. Then Danila Yurov, who made his KHL debut for Metallurg last season, scored on Maxim Tretyak to make it 5-0 before the midway point in the game.

Subsequently, things calmed down. Sochi gained a measure of consolation when Artur Tyanulin found the net early in the third period. That’s his third goal of the tournament, making his contribution one of the brighter spots for the host team. However, Russia had the final word with Alexander Perevalov adding a sixth.

Exhibition games: Ak Bars wins again, Dynamo loses for the third time

Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 1 Ak Bars Kazan 4 (1-0, 0-1, 0-3)

Ak Bars played the second game of its Tatar tour at Nizhnekamsk and duly delivered a second victory in 24 hours. With a tight turnaround, many of Kazan’s star players were rested for this one: Alexander Radulov, Vadim Shipachyov, Slava Voynov, Vasily Tokranov, Danis Zaripov and Dinar Khafizullin were all rested after yesterday’s 6-1 success at Neftyanik.

Neftekhimik handed a debut to Denis Parshin and welcomed back several senior players. Pavel Poryadin was the most notable of those, and he provided the assist as summer signing Anthony Camara opened the scoring with a power play goal in the final second of the first period.

However, Ak Bars hit back. Dmitry Kagarlitsky tied the scores early in the second, and the third period saw the visitor ease to victory. Alexander Khovanov, who returned to Russia from North America over the summer, got the GWG on 45 minutes. Artur Brovkin soon extended that advantage before Stanislav Galiyev scored his first goal since rejoining the team after a season at Dynamo.

Dynamo Moscow 1 Sibir Novosibirsk 3 (0-1, 0-2, 1-0)

Dynamo slipped to a third successive pre-season loss as Sibir proved too strong in Novogorsk. The visitor, which won one and lost one at its camp in Belarus, came out on top in a game where both teams iced strong rosters. For Dynamo, that included a first appearance for Jordan Weal following his arrival for Ak Bars.

It wasn’t a happy start for the Canadian, though. Sibir jumped to a three-goal lead thanks to Anton Shenfeld, Yegor Spiridonov and Vladimir Butuzov. In the final frame, Dynamo got a goal back quickly from Vladislav Yefremov but was unable to make further inroads into Sibir’s advantage.