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Avtomobilist continues to boss Ak Bars. October 6 round-up
Danil Romantsev scored twice to lead Avtomobilist to its second victory over Ak Bars in three days. Another overtime verdict keeps the Motormen a point clear of Metallurg, who won 3-2 at Salavat Yulaev. Neftekhimik continued its winning run, defeating Dynamo in a shoot-out. CSKA snapped its losing streak when it blanked Sibir on the road and Torpedo bounced back from a pair of losses to defeat Barys. In the Far East, Amur edged past Sochi and Admiral got a shoot-out win over Lokomotiv.
Alyayev double sinks Sochi
Amur Khabarovsk 4 HC Sochi 3 (2-1, 1-0, 1-2)
Amur returned to home ice after a difficult road trip that brought just one victory. The victim on that occasion was today’s opponent, defeated in overtime in Sochi. The Tigers had Evgeny Alikin back in goal after he missed the previous game.
Sochi made the short trip from Vladivostok, buoyed by a 4-2 win over Admiral. And the visitor took that good mood into the opening exchanges, with Andrei Altybarmakyan grabbing an early goal. However, Amur hit back. Youngster Yaroslav Likhachyov, his team’s leading goalscorer this season, tied the game then Viktor Baldayev got his first of the season to make it 2-1 in the 16th minute. That was a fair reward for some dominant play from the home team, which outshot Sochi 18-4 in the opening frame.
In middle frame, Sochi offered a greater offensive threat but could not find a way past Alikin. Instead, Artyom Alyayev extended the home lead midway through the session. Igor Rudenkov’s assist brought up 100 points in the KHL.
Game over? Not yet. The Leopards hit back in sensational style, with Artur Tyanulin and Kirill Petkov scoring two goals in 32 seconds to tie the game. However, Sochi’s fightback was in vain. In the closing minutes, Alyayev’s slap shot brought him a second goal of the game, and gave Amur a 4-3 verdict.
Revenge win in Far East
Admiral Vladivostok 3 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 SO (0-1, 2-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)
The Sailors got revenge for their recent loss in Yaroslavl, and this shoot-out win does much to lift the mood around Admiral. Prior to Thursday’s action, Leonids Tambijevs saw his team lose six out of seven games, while Lokomotiv arrived with back-to-back wins lifting it up to third in the West.
In-form Maxim Shalunov, who got the winner in Loko’s last game against Sibir, was the liveliest player in the opening period. He had the game’s first shot on goal, then forced an unbelievable save out of Nikita Serebryakov in the home net. But the visitor’s opener went to Maxim Beryozkin in the 17th minute.
Admiral turned things around in the second period. Artyom Gareyev and Libor Sulak both scored on Ivan Bocharov in the visitor’s net to give the home team the edge going into the third period. However, Lokomotiv ensured that it would leave with at least a point thanks to Alexander Yelesin’s classy shot from the blue line. That sent us all the way to a shoot-out, where Admiral came out on top with Nikolai Chebykin getting the decisive marker.
First shut-out for CSKA
Sibir Novosibirsk 0 CSKA Moscow 3 (0-1, 0-1, 0-1)
Defending champion CSKA snapped a three-game losing streak as Adam Reideborn produced his first shut-out of the season. These team met a week earlier in Moscow with Sibir taking a 3-1 road win from the capital. Since then, Sergei Fedorov saw his team blow a winning position to lose at lowly Kunlun Red Star, then let a 2-0 lead slip before falling to SKA.
Sibir, too, had faced problems since it won in Moscow. Cast as the fall guy as Avangard opened its new arena at the weekend, the Siberians then lost to Lokomotiv on home ice for the first time since 2014. Home head coach Andrei Martemyanov urged his players to learn from Lokomotiv’s example and focus on getting more pucks to the net.
The early shifts suggested that Sibir had taken the coach’s words to heart. The home team played active, aggressive hockey without letting defensive discipline slide. However, it was CSKA who found the opening goal when Andrei Svetlakov beat Denis Kostin with a shot from open ice that the home goalie might feel he saw well enough to stop.
The Muscovites continued to press at the start of the second period. The visitor kept Sibir penned in its own zone for three minutes, ultimately drawing a penalty from Trevor Murphy. On that occasion the host withstood the pressure, but midway through the game Sergei Plotnikov doubled the lead.
There was a visible gap in pace and class between the teams as the game wore on. Sibir was unable to find a way to threaten CSKA’s lead and, at the other end, Vitaly Abramov applied the finishing touch with a third goal. At the other end, the visitor completed its first shut-out of the season. Fedorov and his team will hope that this represents a turning point.
Maillet ends Kareyev’s shut-out streak
Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (2-2, 0-0, 0-1)
After three games without allowing a goal, Salavat Yulaev faced another Eastern Conference highflyer. Table-topping Avtomobilist suffered a 4-0 defeat at home to Viktor Kozlov’s team, then Avangard endured a 5-0 drubbing in Ufa to lift the Bashkir team to third in the East.
Today, though, Metallurg ended that winning streak. The result briefly moved Ilya Vorobyov’s team to the top of the conference although Avtomobilist soon leapfrogged Magnitka with victory in the late game.
Metallurg had to win this one the hard way. Early in the game, the visitor took two penalties and Salavat Yulaev scored on both power plays. Alexander Chmelevski opened the scoring in the third minute, then Pavel Koledov extended the advantage. With home goalie Andrei Kareyev unbeaten in 180 minutes’ play, Magnitka looked to be in serious trouble.
However, Kareyev was not destined to reach 190 minutes without allowing a goal. Philippe Maillet pulled a goal back on 8:45, leaving Kareyev frustratingly close to Alexander Yeryomenko’s club record in the KHL. Next, the home team’s young defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin was ejected from the game for hooking Danila Yurov between the legs. Nikita Korostelyov tied the scores on that major penalty.
The second period continued at the same breathless tempo, but there was no further scoring. Cody Curran came closest, hitting the frame of the goal with a powerful shot.
The final stanza saw the teams trade chances to get ahead. Nikolai Goldobin went close for Metallurg, Danil Alalykin responded for Ufa. Then, three minutes from time, Curran joined the attack and after going close in the middle frame, found the target. That wasn’t quite the end: Korostelyov’s late penalty invited Salavat Yulaev to make one last push. However, the visitor held on for the win.
Torpedo’s flair keeps packing ‘em in
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 3 Barys Nur-Sultan 1 (1-0, 0-0, 2-1)
After two losses, Torpedo responded to outlast Barys and return to third place in the Western Conference. But Thursday’s game was a significant success of the ice.
A successful start to the season under Igor Larionov saw sell-out crowds at Torpedo’s recent home games. However, a run of three losses in four might risk disillusioning some of those fans. In the event, though, the arena was full once again. Clearly, Larionov’s brand of attacking hockey is attracting a committed audience in Nizhny.
Most of those in attendance went home happy after two late goals sealed a win over Barys. They saw the head coach’s son, Igor Larionov Jr, open the scoring midway through the first period as their team had the better of a hard-fought affair. In the middle frame, Torpedo enjoyed an even greater share of the play but was unable to beat Nikita Boyarkin for a second time.
That, of course, gave Barys a chance. The visitor tied the scores early in the third through Yegor Petukhov and was shading the play in the final stanza. However, the breakthrough came in the 58th minute when Nikolai Kovalenko restored Torpedo’s lead. A minute later, Denis Yan’s empty net goal sealed the deal for the home team.
Fifth straight win for Neftekhimik
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 3 Dynamo Moscow 2 SO (1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
The visit of Dynamo, on the back of a six-game winning streak, promised to be the toughest test yet for the Neftekhimik revival. After a dismal start to the season, the home team had won four straight, including an 11-goal battle in Magnitogorsk. Now it faced one of the league’s form teams.
Undaunted, the home team took an early lead through Ruslan Petrishchev. Then things started to unravel.
Eric O’Dell tied the scores in the 13th minute. Then Ansel Galimov wasted a glorious chance to restore the home lead when he missed a penalty shot a couple of minutes later. In the second period, Ilya Kablukov’s first goal since joining Dynamo put the Muscovites ahead. Was Neftekhimik’s run coming to an end?
Not yet. Vyacheslav Leshchenko tied the game in the 36th minute. That was the end of the scoring, but the home team scored every one of its attempts in the shoot-out to claim another win.
Romantsev shoots down Ak Bars
Ak Bars Kazan 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 OT (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1)
For the second time in two days, Avtomobilist defeated Ak Bars in overtime. Two goals from Danil Romantsev made the difference as Nikolai Zavarukhin’s team remained on top in the Eastern Conference.
The first period was evenly matched, but Avtomobilist had the better chances. The visitor was helped by a major penalty on Kirill Adamchuk, ejected from the game for kneeing Curtis Valk midway through the session. Even before that, home goalie Amir Miftakhov made big saves to deny Anatoly Golyshev on two separate occasions. However, the Motormen could not find the breakthrough in the first 20 minutes.
In the second period, Ak Bars posed more of an attacking threat and came close to taking the lead. Slava Voynov’s stretch pass released Dmitry Kagarlitsky, and his effort beat Igor Bobkov but clanged back off the piping. Soon, though, the momentum switched. Avtomobilist had two power plays in quite succession. It couldn’t score on either of them, but the pressure eventually saw Danil Romantsev fire in a shot that bounced off Alexander Radulov’s skate and dropped into the net.
The third period saw the home team step up its game. Over the 20 minutes, Ak Bars outshot Avto 21-7, spending more than three times as long on the attack. However, it took a late power play goal to save the game. Ilya Safonov was the hero, redirecting Vadim Shipachyov’s shot to add to the two goals he scored on the Motormen on Tuesday.
Those efforts came in a losing cause as Avtomobilist claimed an overtime win. Today, the teams again went into the extras and again the visitor got the win. Unlike last time, Oleg Znarok did not gamble on a fourth skater. Playing 3-on-3, he saw Radulov denied a winner by the post in the final seconds. However, even with Miftakhov in place, Avtomobilist was able to snatch an even later goal to win it. Romantsev got his second of the game, his team defeated Ak Bars for the third time this season.
