CSKA suffers heavy loss, Spartak edges Ak Bars

Sunday’s two warm-up games saw CSKA hammered 1-6 in Minsk in the defending champion’s opening pre-season game. In Moscow, Spartak got its first win of the summer with a 3-2 verdict over Ak Bars.

Dinamo Minsk 6 CSKA Moscow 1 (3-1, 1-0, 2-0)

CSKA played its first game of pre-season – and the defending champion suffered a heavy loss at the hands of Dinamo.

Sergei Fedorov named an experimental line-up, dividing his forces between experience and emerging talent. However, the Muscovites’ youngsters were no match for a Minsk team that is well advanced in its own summer program after competing at the Sochi Hockey Open.

Craig Woodcroft added Mark Barberio to his defense and Nick Merklin centered the second line as Dinamo moves closer to a full-strength roster. But it was Vladimir Alistrov who took the plaudits in a convincing win for the Bison.

He opened the scoring in the ninth minute, scoring on 19-year-old CSKA netminder Dmitry Gamzin, and went on to collect four points in the game. It wasn’t long before Alistrov assisted on Brandon Kozun’s goal and, after Yegor Kuzminov pulled one back for the visitor, Alistrov scored his second of the game.

Pavel Varfolomeyev matched his two-goal show, and Sergei Sapego completed the scoring in a convincing display from Dinamo.

Spartak Moscow 3 Ak Bars Kazan 2 (1-0, 1-1, 1-1)

This game was organized as a tribute to the late Vladimir Shadrin, a legendary player for Spartak and team USSR. In addition, Spartak sought its first victory of pre-season against an Ak Bars team yet to lose this summer. Adding to the intrigue, Kazan’s head coach Oleg Znarok was back at the last team he led in the KHL.

However, Znarok was not destined to enjoy a winning return. Spartak had a slight advantage in the opening frame and parlayed that into a 1-0 lead thanks to Dmitry Vishnevsky’s power play goal. The teams traded markers in the middle frame, with the Red-and-Whites regaining the lead on a play involving three summer arrivals. Roman Starchenko scored off assists from German Rubtsov and Joey Keane.

That lead remained intact until a dramatic finale. Znarok replaced Timur Bilyalov with a sixth skater and iced five forwards and one D in the closing stages. That gambit merely enabled Dmitry Kugryshev to score an empty net goal and extend Spartak’s advantage. However, there was still time for Alexander Radulov to make it a one-goal game with 15 seconds to play.