Opening Cup goes to CSKA. September 1 round-up
CSKA lifted the Opening Cup after a blistering second period performance put Metallurg to the sword. Last season’s champion made a stuttering start and trailed 0-2 at the first intermission. But five unanswered goals in the middle frame emphatically turned the game around.
CSKA Moscow 6 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (0-2, 5-0, 1-0)
The win sees the Muscovites win the KHL’s traditional curtain raiser for only the second time. CSKA’s only previous success was in 2015. This year was the club’s seventh appearance in the showcase game, a KHL record.
CSKA started the new season with Adam Reideborn in goal. The defending champion handed a debut to his fellow Swede, Fredrik Claesson, in the second defensive pairing alongside Vladislav Provolnev.
Metallurg named veteran Vasily Koshechkin as its starting goalie. Young forward Nikita Grebyonkin was the 13th forward, making his second career KHL appearance.
The early exchanges brought few chances. Even when Metallurg got the first power play of the game, there was little work for Reideborn to do. And the opening goal, in the ninth minute, came out of nothing. There seemed to be little danger when Yaroslav Khabarov thumped in a shot from the blue line, but Pavel Akolzin’s astute redirect in front of the net was enough to beat CSKA’s Swedish netminder.
The host almost tied it up with a similar move. Yaroslav Dyblenko’s shot was met by Sergei Plotnikov, but his touch lifted the puck against the crossbar and Metallurg preserved its lead. Moments later, the Steelmen got a big advantage. Prokhar Poltapov, a 19-year-old forward with 18 KHL games prior to today, had never previously logged a goal, assist or penalty in the big league. Today he opened one of those accounts with a high hit on Artyom Zemchyonok that earned him an ejection from the game.
Metallurg made the most of the subsequent major penalty, setting up camp in CSKA territory and doubling its lead when Semyon Koshelev fired home Maxim Karpov’s pass to the slot. Reideborn had to make a couple more big saves before his team returned to full strength then, after barely a minute of 5-on-5 hockey, a delaying the game call on Matvei Gusev put the Muscovites back on the PK for the remainder of the first period.
The situation demanded a swift response in the second, and Mikhail Grigorenko supplied it just 45 seconds after the restart. He and Maxim Sorkin pressed hard on the Metallurg defense, forcing an error as they tried to clear the puck from their zone. Claesson made the intercept and set up Grigorenko for a powerful wrister that ripped past Koshechkin and blew the game wide open.
By the midway point, the scoreline turned around. In the 27th minute, Claesson’s point shot led to CSKA tying the game thanks to Pavel Karnaukhov’s redirect. Two assists in six minutes represents a more than decent start to life in the KHL for the former Tampa Bay defenseman. A minute later, his team-mates were celebrating a go-ahead goal. Once again, Metallurg struggled to clear its lines and Artyom Sergeyev’s interception set up Semyon Pankratov for CSKA’s third. Pankratov, 24, crossed Moscow last season after leaving Dynamo but was used sparingly by his new club. Prior to Poltapov’s dismissal, he was the 13th forward today but started to see more action in the second period and made the most of that opportunity with a clutch goal.
Magnitka responded by withdrawing Koshechkin and handing Eddie Pasquale his first competitive appearance for the club. For a time, that gave the visitor a lift. Another power play generated some momentum for the Steelmen, and only the piping saved CSKA when Brendan Leipsic got a shot past Reideborn.
But just as it seemed that an equalizer was on the way, the defending champion took the game away with two goals in 55 seconds. Plotnikov fired home the fourth from the top of the circle before another defensive breakdown let in Danil Yurtaikin to make it 5-2.
Now firmly in control, CSKA extended its lead on the power play early in the third when Grigorenko got his second of the game. That was only the third time a team scored six in the season opener, matching Metallurg in 2014 and SKA in 2018. The final score of 6-2 ties the second greatest margin of victory in an Opening Cup game.
