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CSKA wins derby thriller, SKA and Magnitka stay on top. September 26
Moscow’s first derby of the season did not disappoint: a fight, a late tying goal and an overtime winner ended up with CSKA edging Spartak 3-2. The conference leaders both won, with Metallurg beating Dinamo Minsk 4-1 before SKA downed Torpedo 3-0. Sergei Shirokov’s 200th KHL goal helped Avtomobilist to a 6-1 win over KRS and there were shoot-out successes on the road for Barys and Admiral.
Shirokov scores 200th goal
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 6 Kunlun Red Star 1 (2-1, 2-0, 2-0)
Avtomobilist’s power play was on top form, producing five out of today’s six goals. Home captain Sergei Shirokov scored twice, bringing his KHL career tally to 201. It all added up to a third successive heavy loss for Red Star in Yekaterinburg: the Dragons’ last three visits here have resulted in an aggregate score of 21-1 in the home team’s favor.
Today, penalty trouble undermined the visitor. Two power play goals in the first period saw Brooks Macek and Nick Ebert put the Motormen in charge. Red Star was competitive in the opening frame, though, and pulled one back before the intermission. Brandon Yip, back from injury, scored his first of the season to give the visitor hope.
That hope evaporated in the middle session. Shirokov scored twice in a couple of minutes. His first, the only goal of the day scored at equal strength, brought up 200 in the KHL for the 36-year-old forward. Then, after unselfish work from Stephane Da Costa, Shirokov made it 4-1 during yet another power play.
Limited to just two shots in the second period, Red Star showed more intent in the third. However, Johan Mattsson was equal to anything that came his way and, inevitably, more penalties brought more goals for Avtomobilist. Georgy Belousov and Curtis Valk wrapped up the scoring in a comfortable home victory.
Magnitka records seventh straight win
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4 Dinamo Minsk 1 (1-0, 2-0, 1-1)
Metallurg stays on top of the Eastern Conference after recording a seventh straight victory. Dinamo Minsk was today’s victim, with Craig Woodcroft’s team suffering its second loss on its current road trip.
Magnitka welcomed Nikolai Goldobin back to the team. The forward was a health scratch for the past 10 days, but rejoined Philippe Maillet and Brendan Leipsic. They were listed as today’s third line, and got the opening goal in the fourth minute. The play started with Dinamo pressing forward, but a misplaced pass got away from Alexei Emelin on the blue line and invited Leipsic to counter. Alexei Kolosov seemed to have everything under control in the home net, but the puck squirmed loose for Maillet to follow up and score.
Dinamo thought it had an equalizer late in the opening frame when Denis Mosalyov found the net following Brandon Kozun’s counterattack. However, a bench challenge saw that one wiped out for offside and Metallurg took a lead into the intermission.
Midway through the game, the home team took control. A well-worked power play saw Nikita Korostelyov double the lead, then two minutes later Andrei Chibisov made it 3-0 after forcing a turnover in his own zone.
Minsk did not give up and Ryan Spooner reduced the deficit midway through the third period. The Canadian forward raced onto Emelin’s stretch pass, exchanged passes with Igor Martynov and beat Eddie Pasquale to give the visitor hope of an unlikely fightback. However, an empty net goal from Yegor Korobkin sealed Metallurg’s success.
Admiral edges Severstal
Severstal Cherepovets 1 Admiral Vladivostok 2 SO (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Admiral snapped a three-game losing streak with a shoot-out win at Severstal. The result lifts the Sailors to seventh in the Eastern Conference, while the Steelmen drop to eighth in the West.
The visitor opened the scoring after five minutes. Nikolajs Jelisejevs got his first of the season to put Admiral ahead. Subsequently, though Admiral found itself making regular visits to the penalty box, inviting pressure from the home team.
That pressure finally took its toll late in the second period. Yet another home power play saw Daniil Vovchenko tie the scores; it perhaps summed up Admiral’s evening that a bench challenge for a possible offside was over-ruled, immediately giving Severstal another power play.
Yet the Steelmen struggled to take advantage of the extra man and the game finished tied at 1-1. After a game short on goals, the shoot-out saw both teams looking more productive. Alexander Gorshkov settled it at the 10th attempt; his successive effort made it 3-2 in the shoot-out and gave Admiral a 2-1 verdict.
SKA blanks Torpedo
SKA St. Petersburg 3 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0)
SKA bounced back from its first defeat of the season to snap Torpedo’s four-game streak. The visitor had hoped to move second in the Western Conference, but struggled to cope with the early-season pacesetter.
The game was also an interesting coaching duel. Both SKA’s Roman Rotenberg and Torpedo’s Igor Larionov are in their first full seasons as head coaches in the KHL. However, while Larionov comes with impeccable playing credentials and substantial experience with Russia’s junior teams, Rotenberg belongs to the relatively rare breed of young coaches without a top-level playing career.
Today, it was Rotenberg’s team that came out on top. The home side looked to secure the initiative from the start, but it needed a 5-on-3 power play to break Torpedo’s resistance late in the first period. Dmitrij Jaskin got the goal, putting the puck away after Damir Zhafyarov fired to the slot.
In the second period, Torpedo had chances to draw level. However, there was no way past Dmitry Nikolayev in the home net. Instead, SKA managed to extend its lead late in the session when Valentin Zykov scored a curious goal. Young forward Vladislav Tsitsyura fired in a shot that hit the inside of both posts and bounced clear of the line, only to drop for Zykov to finish off.
Zykov had a hand in the third as well. Early in the final frame, SKA forced a turnover in center ice and gained an odd man rush. Zykov’s pass found Alexander Volkov in space in front of Ivan Kulbakov’s net and his backhand shot found the net.
That was the end of the scoring as Torpedo’s favored attacking tactics failed to find the SKA net. The home team extends its lead at the top of the standings to six points.
Boyarkin blanks Loko
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 0 Barys Nur-Sultan 1 SO (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
For the second time in five games, Lokomotiv played a full 65 minutes of goalless hockey. This time, though, the Railwaymen failed in the shoot-out, seeing a four-game winning streak come to an end as Barys got its first road win of the season.
This game was a goaltending duel, with two young netminders, Daniil Isayev and Nikita Boyarkin capturing the attention. Between them, they stopped 49 shots in the game. Boyarkin, given the start ahead of Julius Hudacek, was the busier of the two as he made 32 saves to steer Barys to the shoot-out.
In that shoot-out, the first five attempts all failed. Then Arkady Shestakov scored for Barys, ending the long wait for a goal. Loko responded immediately through Andrei Sergeyev, but Nikita Mikhailis put the visitor back in front. Finally, Boyarkin outwitted Denis Alexeyev to settle the outcome.
Ding-dong derby goes to CSKA
CSKA Moscow 3 Spartak Moscow 2 OT (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 1-0)
The first Moscow derby of the season saw CSKA bounce back after two losses last week. The defending champion needed overtime to see off Spartak but secured a win that will restore some confidence. Spartak, meanwhile, moves a point clear in second place thanks to its tie in regulation.
The visitor might have achieved even more. There was a great opportunity to take control of the game in the first period when Nikita Nesterov was assessed a major penalty for elbowing. However, the Spartak power play could not find a way through during those five minutes and, late in the frame, CSKA grabbed the opening goal. A turnover triggered a swift counterattack, Mikhail Grigorenko left the puck for Yaroslav Dyblenko, and his shot dropped for Anton Slepyshev to find the empty net. Right on the hooter, Vladislav Kamenev might have doubled the lead, but his shot dinged the post and bounced to safety.
Derby day passions surfaced again midway through the second period when Fredrik Claesson landed a hard hit on Maxim Tsyplakov and Danila Kvartalnov looked to avenge his team-mate. Both Kvartalnov and the Swede sat for five after their fight and during the four-on-four play Slepyshev hit the piping. Next, the visitor had to survive 32 seconds with three men, but once back to full strength Spartak tied the game thanks to Yegor Savikov, who converted Alexander Khokhlachyov’s pass. That assist makes Khokhlachyov Spartak’s leading scorer in the KHL era.
CSKA twice went close to regaining the lead late in the second period, but had to wait until the third to get a second goal. A defensive error from Spartak handed the home team the puck on the blue line, Vitaly Abramov tested Alexei Krasikov and the rebound fell to Konstantin Okulov to make it 2-1. When Khokhlachyov took a penalty in the 57th minute, it seemed that Spartak’s prospects were slim. Unexpectedly, though, Tsyplakov overpowered Grigorenko, surged into the zone and set up Kvartalnov for a late tying goal.
In the extras, CSKA wasted no time in deploying its favorite tactic. Adam Reideborn rushed to the bench, creating a 4-on-3 advantage, and Sergei Plotnikov quickly cashed in to win the game.
