Kagarlitsky hat-trick sinks Spartak

Ak Bars took swift revenge for Sunday’s loss at Spartak, while Torpedo eased to victory over its farm club in Monday’s pre-season action.

Spartak Moscow 4 Ak Bars Kazan 7 (0-0, 1-3, 3-4)

Ak Bars was quick to get revenge for its first pre-season defeat. After losing to Spartak yesterday, Oleg Znarok’s team bounced back with a 7-4 victory in Moscow. Dmitry Kagarlitsky was the star man, scoring a hat-trick and adding an assist.

Although the game finished with 11 goals, the opening frame went without any scoring. However, Ak Bars got in front early in the second with a goal on its first power play of the day. Kagarlitsky was the scorer. That opened the floodgates and within five minutes it was 3-0 as Nikita Lyamkin and Mikhail Glukhov took the game away from the home team.

The Red-and-Whites tried hard to get back into contention. Ilya Talaluyev pulled one back late in the middle frame but the start of the third saw Ak Bars build a commanding lead. Alexander Radulov struck early, then Alexander Burmistrov found the net before Kagarlitsky potted his second. In the midst of all that, Dmitry Zlodeyev got a second for Spartak.

The home team finished strongly, with two goals in a minute pulling the scoreline to 6-4. With three-and-a-half minutes to play, was there a sensational fightback to come? Not this time. Kagarlitsky completed his hat-trick, scoring into an empty net, and Ak Bars took a high-scoring verdict.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 5 Dizel Penza 2 (2-0, 2-0, 1-2)

Torpedo took on its VHL farm club in the first of two back-to-back warm-up games and Igor Larionov’s team eased to victory over its reserve team.

Sergei Goncharuk opened the scoring midway through the first period, then goals followed at regular intervals thereafter. Kenny Agostino potted a second in the 17^th minute, Alexei Kruchinin added a power play goal after 25 and Nikolai Burenov made it 4-0 late in the second period. Igor Larionov Jr continued his effective pre-season form with two assists, moving him to 5 (3+2) points from three summer games.

Late in the second period, Torpedo’s Jan Denisov missed a penalty shot. In the third period, Lev Komissarov pulled a goal back for Dizel, denying 17-year-old goalie Lorens Zinaddin a shut-out. Komissarov is a new arrival at Torpedo and the 22-year-old former CSKA forward is on a two-way contract this season. Previously he played five games for the Muscovites and will hope to force his way into the KHL team at his new club.

In the last minute, Dizel scored again on the power play but Larionov Jr had the final say with his fourth pre-season goal to complete the scoring.