SKA steals late winner, Red Star adds to Traktor’s worries. October 7

Friday’s top attraction was top-of-the-table SKA’s clash with Vityaz. It turned into a tougher examination than the home team might have expected, needing a late goal to snatch a 4-3 win. In the day’s other games, Kunlun defeated Traktor in OT and Spartak won at Severstal.

Traktor suffers fourth straight loss

Kunlun Red Star 3 Traktor Chelyabinsk 2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-0)

Traktor’s problems continue. Anvar Gatiyatullin’s team had only won once in its previous five games, and that was at home to today’s opponent Kunlun. On Friday there was a debut for forward Sergei Shumakov, who was at Avtomobilist last season. However, despite leading twice, Traktor was unable to finish the job and suffered an overtime loss.

Kunlun had its own problems. Goaltender Jeremy Smith was taken ill shortly before the game, meaning Chinese goalie Sun Zehao was on a KHL roster for the first time since Feb. 2019. He was back-up to Matt Jurusik.

Jurusik was kept busy in the early stages as Traktor started at a high tempo. The visitor turned that pressure into an opening goal when Alexei Byvaltsev produced a blistering one-timer off an Anton Burdasov feed in the 14^th minute.

Traktor was good value for that lead and continued in similar vein in the second period. However, a home counterattack tied the game midway through with Ethan Werek making it 1-1.

In the third period, Kirill Kapustin’s goal looked like it would be enough to win it for the visitor. However, late in the game a penalty on Ilya Karpukhin changed everything. Technically, he was back on the ice before Cory Kane tied the game once again; in effect, though, this was a power play goal for Red Star to force overtime for the fourth game in a row. In the extras, captain Brandon Yip complete the home revival with his fourth goal of the season. Jurusik finished the game with 42 saves to frustrate Traktor’s forwards.

Spartak stops the rot

Severstal Cherepovets 2 Spartak Moscow 4 (1-0, 1-2, 0-2)

Spartak returned to third place in the Western Conference with victory at Severstal. The Red-and-Whites had just one win in their previous five games, while the Steelmen’s shoot-out success at Kunlun on Tuesday ended a run of three losses for Andrei Razin’s men.

Initially it seemed that the home team had picked up some confidence from that hard-fought road win. Severstal shaded the first period and got the all-important breakthrough thanks to Nikita Khlystov’s 14^th-minute goal.

However, Spartak got a power play at the start of the middle frame and duly tied the game through Andrei Loktionov. Four minutes later, a delayed penalty saw Matvei Zaseda put the visitor ahead. That’s three goals in three games for the 23-year-old this season.

Severstal managed to tie the scores before the second break, with Alexander Suvorov on target. That made it four goals in his last four games, but wasn’t destined to save his team. Another Spartak power play saw Phil Varone make it 3-2 in the 47^th minute and Danila Kvartalnov’s short-handed goal in the closing stages sealed the win.

Glotov snatches late winner

SKA St. Petersburg 4 Vityaz Moscow Region 3 (0-1, 2-1, 2-1)

SKA stretched its winning streak to six games, but it took a last minute goal to see off a battling Vityaz in Petersburg. The visitor led three times before finally succumbing to Vasily Glotov’s late tally after an absorbing clash.

On paper, this game looked like a home banker. SKA enjoyed a 10-point lead over a Vityaz team down in sixth in the Western Conference. Moreover, the visitor had relied on its strong home form thus far this season while SKA has been supremely effective wherever it plays.

However, a closer look at the stats might have given a clue about how the action would play out. Although SKA has lost just once this season and was on a five-game winning streak ahead of tonight’s action, Vityaz came out on top in its last four games. Moreover, the last two of them were on the road, where Vyacheslav Butsayev’s team scored 10 goals in its victories at Spartak and Dinamo Minsk.

Even so, there’s a big step up in class between Minsk and Petersburg. SKA rolled into the game full of confidence and took immediate control. The home team dominated the first period, outshooting Vityaz 14-4 and enjoying the bulk of possession. However, the only goal came at the other end when a rare foray forward saw Kirill Rasskazov open the scoring.

After fluffing their chances in the first period, SKA’s forwards got it right in the second. A third power play of the game proved to be the charm; Marat Khairullin obliged with the tying goal. Now, surely, normal service was resumed.

Nobody told Vityaz. A minute later, Ivan Yezhov had the puck in the SKA net for a second time. The home team challenged the play, claiming interference on goalie Dmitry Nikolayev. However, the video review upheld the on-ice decision, Yezhov had his first KHL goal and SKA had a bench penalty to contend with.

Vityaz then ran into penalty trouble and SKA enjoyed a 5-on-3 three power play without finding the net. Later the home team did score, only to find that the puck crossed the line after the whistle. Finally, Mikhail Vorobyov struck just before the hooter to send the teams to the intermission at 2-2.

Vorobyov had to do it again in the third period. Vityaz refused to go away and Roman Abrosimov put the visitor ahead for the third time in the game. With seven-and-a-half minutes to play, Vorobyov’s second of the game tied it at 3-3. This time, it was the Vityaz bench’s turn to try a challenge and the outcome was the same as SKA’s earlier protest: no interference on goalie Dmitry Shikin, good goal, bench minor.

Vityaz killed that penalty and looked to have done enough to deservedly take the game to overtime. However, in the final minute Vasily Glotov popped up with the winner for SKA. The Petersburg club continues to lead the way, while Vityaz was left to reflect on what might have been.