Puchkov tournament starts

Three-goal second periods were the defining feature of Tuesday’s play. Both games in Petersburg were effectively settled when Avangard and SKA scored a trio of unanswered goals in the middle session. Earlier, CSKA did the same thing to CSKA in a warm-up game in Moscow.

Nikolai Puchkov Tournament: Avangard, SKA open with big wins

Avangard Omsk 5 HC Sochi 1 (1-0, 3-0, 1-1)

The opening game of Petersburg’s summer tournament saw Avangard take on Sochi. The teams were meeting for the second time this preseason and, just like the first encounter, it all started with a fight. This time, though, the hockey was not much of a contest. The Hawks opened the scoring late in the first period through Corban Knight, added three more in the middle frame and went on to win 5-1. Knight had three points in the game, as did Vladimir Tkachyov. Andrei Altybarmakyan got Sochi’s consolation tally.

SKA St. Petersburg 4 Severstal Cherepovets 1 (1-1, 3-0, 0-0)

Host team SKA took to the ice for the evening game against Severstal. Much like the tournament opener, this was settled by three unanswered goals in the middle stanza. However, unlike Sochi, Severstal managed to pose a few questions of the opposition before falling away.

Indeed, the visitor grabbed a shock lead. Nikita Guslistov, one of Andrei Razin’s young stars, potted the opening goal after 99 seconds. SKA then ran into penalty trouble and the Steelmen spurned three power play opportunities inside the first 10 minutes. Had Severstal extended its lead at that point, things might have been very different. Instead, once back to full strength SKA tied the game on a 15^th-minute marker from Marat Khairullin.

The middle frame saw SKA get its own power play chances and the home team was far more clinical. Khairullin set up Valentin Zykov for the go-ahead goal, then Marat Khusnutdinov converted another PP just a couple of minutes later. Khairullin scored his second of the game late in the frame to open a 4-1 lead.

The third period saw Dmitrij Jaskin hit the bar for SKA early on. Later, Severstal tried to reduce the deficit but could not find a way past Alexander Samonov as the home team closed out a comfortable win.

Warm-up game: Derby success for CSKA

CSKA Moscow 6 Spartak Moscow 3 (1-1, 3-0, 2-2)

After suffering a 1-6 loss in Minsk in its first game of the summer, CSKA sent out a strong team for its first Moscow engagement. This week is full of capital city derbies, with the Mayor of Moscow Cup wrapping up pre-season for the teams based in and around the region.

Before that tournament starts on Thursday, though, two city rivals continued their sparring. After the shock loss in Belarus, CSKA made a bright start here with a power play goal in the fourth minute. The top line combined for Mikhail Grigorenko to give his team an early advantage. CSKA had the better of the play, but failed to extend its lead and Spartak managed to tie the game late in the frame through Zakhar Arzamastsev.

The second period was all about CSKA, who scored three goals. The first was a short-handed effort from Maxim Sorkin, then Konstantin Okulov made it 3-1 with the teams at equal strength. To complete the set, Darren Dietz grabbed a power play tally just before the hooter.

That effectively decided the outcome, but there was still time for a flurry of goals in a five-minute spell in the third frame. Shane Prince and Danila Kvartalnov scored for Spartak either side of CSKA efforts from Maxim Mamin and Sergei Plotnikov as an entertaining game finished 6-3.