Metallurg wins opener in Chelyabinsk, SKA gets second victory

Wednesday saw the start of the Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup, with wins for Barys and Metallurg on the opening day. The Puchkov Tournament continued in Petersburg, with Severstal beating Sochi before Sibir lost its first game of the competition against SKA. And there were wins for Torpedo and Dinamo Minsk in warm-up action.

Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup: revenge win for Magnitka

Traktor Chelyabinsk 1 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 SO (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)

The last time these South Urals rivals met, it was in Magnitogorsk. Traktor won both the game and the tournament on Metallurg’s ice, a blow to Magnitka’s pride. Today was the first chance for revenge, and Ilya Vorobyov’s team took it. Although maybe not quite with both hands.

The opening ceremony featured a visit from Valery Nichushkin, a Chelyabinsk lad who helped Colorado win this year’s Stanley Cup. A decade ago, Nichushkin made his Traktor debut in this very tournament at the start of an impressive hockey journey.

Today’s Traktor also has some rising young stars. Yaroslav Yapparov, just 18 years old, made his first appearance for the seniors. Two other juniors, Maxim Shabanov and Mikhail Rolgizer, flanked Vladimir Tkachyov on the third line. Metallurg, too, gave a prominent role to its leading prospect with Danila Yurov playing on the first line.

Neither team could find a goal in the first period, with Traktor failing to convert a territorial advantage into a lead. Early in the second, a defensive mix-up presented Anatoly Nikontsev with the opener for Metallurg. However, Vorobyov’s men could not rest on their lead. The visitor’s power play was a disappointment, despite several chances including a spell of 5-on-3 in the third period. Even when Philippe Maillet got the puck past Emil Garipov, the play was whistled down for offside after a bench challenge. That lifted the home team, and a late flurry saw Tkachyov grab the tying goal.

Metallurg would not be denied, though. Overtime could not separate the teams, but Yegor Yakovlev potted the decisive attempt in a shoot-out to give Magnitka a winning start.

Barys Nur-Sultan 2 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 1 (1-0, 0-0, 1-1)

The tournament began with a close game between Barys and Avto, decided by a Nikita Mikhailis power play goal midway through the third period.

The Kazakhs arrived in Chelyabinsk after winning their home tournament, having shared a seven-goal thriller with Avtomobilist along the way. Today’s rematch lacked the sparkle of the Nur-Sultan meeting, though.

Barys got the first goal midway through the opening frame. Jesse Graham’s point shot was redirected into the net by Mikhailis. For a long time, it was the only goal. Neither team could score in the middle stanza and it took nine minutes of the third before Brooks Macek tied it up for the Motormen.

However, Barys quickly regained the lead. Avto had suffered penalty trouble throughout the game, and that finally caught up with Nikolai Zavarukhin’s team within two minutes of Macek’s goal when Mikhailis got his second of the day to claim the verdict.

Puchkov Tournament: Special teams star in SKA victory

SKA St. Petersburg 4 Sibir Novosibirsk 2 (1-0, 2-2, 1-0)

This was a game dominated by special teams. Four of the six goals were scored on the power play, and another came from a short-handed effort. Two goals late in the second period turned the scoreline around and set up a victory for SKA. The host team move clear at the top of the standings, while Sibir suffered defeat in its opening game.

The opening frame was relatively quiet, with just one goal. Stepan Falkovsky was the scorer, giving SKA a 17^th-minute lead. It proved to be the only equal-strength marker of the night.

In the second session, Sibir hit back to lead 2-1. Alexander Sharov’s short-handed effort tied the game, then Vladimir Butuzov struck on the power play to give the Siberians a slender advantage. Late in the stanza, though, penalty trouble let the visitor down. Alexander Nikishin and Damir Zhafyarov, two summer arrivals in Petersburg, took advantage after a slashing call on Nikita Shashkov was followed by a too many men penalty.

Early in the third another power play saw Dmitry Buchelnikov extend SKA’s lead. That proved to be the end of the scoring as the tournament host maintains its winning start to the competition.

Severstal Cherepovets 3 HC Sochi 2 (0-0, 2-1, 1-1)

Both of these teams lost their opening games in Petersburg on Tuesday, and both were looking to put that right on day two. As a result, we saw some cautious hockey in a first period littered with penalties and combination play that did not quite come off.

It wasn’t until the midway stage that things changed. Severstal scored two in quick succession, with Kirill Pilipenko converting a 5-on-3 power play before Alexander Suvorov doubled the lead. The Steelmen seemed to be in control, but seven seconds before the hooter, Vasily Glotov broke clear of the defense to pull a goal back for Sochi.

The third period was just 37 seconds old when Ivan Yemets restored Severstal’s two-goal advantage and that proved to be decisive. In the final moments, Sochi got a consolation goal through Kirill Petkov, but could not escape a second defeat.

Warm-up games: two tight verdicts

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 1 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0)

Loko didn’t have the best of times at the recent tournament in Ufa, but that did not deter head coach Igor Nikitin from continuing to experiment with his team. He rested almost all of his leaders for the visit of Torpedo and created a fourth line out of three forwards from the Junior Hockey League – Alexander Perevalov, Alexander Volkov and Daniil But. Torpedo named Nikolai Kovalenko as captain against his first club.

The first period was end-to-end staff with both teams playing highly mobile hockey. Torpedo had the better of it and went ahead when Nikita Shavin finished off a great play. In the middle frame, Loko tied it up on a power play goal from Alexander Yelesin and that youthful fourth line had chances to put the home team ahead. However, the only other goal came at the opposite end when Kenny Agostino pounced on a rebound and fired into an unguarded net.

Dinamo Minsk 3 Admiral Vladivostok 2 (1-0, 1-2, 1-0)

Both teams could take heart from this game. Dinamo posted second win of the summer against the Sailors, but Admiral showed great spirit in rallying from 0-2. Minsk rested Alexei Emelin, while Admiral handed a debut to Danil Faizullin, whose arrival was confirmed this week.

The previous game between these two ended in a 2-0 win for Dinamo and the Bison established a repeat of that scoreline. Mikhail Shalagin’s marker separated the teams at the first intermission, then Dmitry Sokolov’s well-taken goal doubled the advantage early in the second.

But Admiral battled back. Within a minute, Vadim Khlopotov reduced the arrears. Then Yegor Rykov tied the game going into the final stanza. Ryan Spooner proved to be the game-winner, making it 3-2 midway through the third, but both teams could point to positives.