Wins for Dynamo, SKA and Vityaz

Saturday brought three more warm-up games. Two of them were rehearsals for the upcoming Mayor of Moscow Cup, with Dynamo defeating Spartak and Vityaz edging Amur. The third saw SKA end its time in Sochi with a win.

Dynamo Moscow 4 Spartak Moscow 2 (1-0, 1-1, 2-1)

After spending much of the summer experimenting with young players, both Dynamo and Spartak lined up with something close to full-strength rosters here.

Dynamo had Jordan Weal, Vladislav Yefremov and Jakob Lilja on the first line, while Spartak had Dmitry Kugryshev, Andrei Loktionov and Alexander Khokhlachyov. Shane Prince made his debut for the Red-and-Whites while the goaltending battle pitted Ilya Konovalov against Patrik Rybar.

Most of the stats gave Spartak the edge in the first period. The shot count read 15-4, and goal attempts were 26-8. However, the only goal of the frame went to Dynamo when Eric O’Dell converted his team’s solitary power play.

In the second, O’Dell doubled the lead, assisted by his countryman Weal. Only after that did Spartak find a way past Konovalov, with Kugryshev halving the deficit.

The final frame was a niggly affair, which included a fight between Dynamo’s Andrei Nikonov and Spartak’s Nikita Sokolov. The home team had the better of the hockey, with Lilja and Nikita Buruyanov extending the lead. Kugryshev’s second of the game was scant consolation for Spartak.

HC Sochi 3 SKA St. Petersburg 4 (0-3, 2-1, 1-0)

SKA wrapped up its summer trip to Sochi with a win over the hometown team. However, the host showed some character to battle back into contention after a poor first period.

SKA jumped to a 3-0 lead in that opening frame on goals from Zakhar Bardakov and Kirill Tankov. They struck in quick succession in the fifth minute, then Artyom Fyodorov added a third on the power play midway through the session.

Sochi picked itself up and got back into the game in the middle frame. Vasily Glotov and Artur Tyanulin reduced the deficit. It needed a goal from Valentin Zykov late in the second period to keep SKA in control and, when Nikita Feoktistov pulled one back late in the third, Zykov’s effort proved decisive.

Vityaz Moscow Region 3 Amur Khabarovsk 2 OT (0-1, 2-0, 0-1, 1-0)

Vityaz got its first win at its new home in Balashikha thanks to an overtime goal from Stepan Starkov. He snapped a 2-2 tie just 13 seconds into the extras to sink Amur.

The Tigers made a fast start to the game and opened the scoring through Igor Rudenkov’s fourth-minute tally. That lead lasted until the midway stage, when Alexander Avtsin tied it up before Jeremy Roy’s penalty shot put Vityaz in front. Veteran defenseman Rafael Batyrshin put Amur level once again early in the third and the game remained deadlocked until Starkov settled matters.