Loko wins big battle in Moscow. October 20 round-up
Thursday’s top game saw second host third in the West. And visitor Lokomotiv came out on top, winning 4-2 at Dynamo Moscow to move level on points with its opponent. Elsewhere, Amur edged Vityaz 3-2 at home to halt its losing run, Salavat Yulaev just about held off a mighty Severstal fightback to win 5-4 in Cherepovets, and Torpedo eased to a 4-1 success against Sochi.
First win in six for Amur
Amur Khabarovsk 3 Vityaz Moscow Region 2 (1-0, 1-2, 1-0)
Amur snapped its five-game losing streak with a morale-boosting victory over Vityaz. When the teams met in Balashikha earlier in the season, the Tigers lost 1-3 so this was something of a revenge mission.
There was little to choose between the team on the balance of play, and it was Amur’s superior finishing that made the difference. Midway through the first period, Artyom Alyayev’s powerful shot was too hot for Vityaz goalie Dmitry Shikin to handle and the rebound was gleefully banged into the net by Alexander Sharov.
In the second period, Vityaz got back on level terms thanks to Stepan Starkov. That encouraged Amur’s on-loan line – Yaroslav Likhachyov and new acquisition Nikita Grebyonkin, alongside the experienced Ivan Nikolishin – to raise their game. A series of threatening attacks ended with Likhachyov getting a goal that closely resembled Sharov’s earlier effort. The Vityaz forwards were, apparently, paying attention and tied the game a second time with a similar play, converted by Scott Wilson on the slot.
The teams remained deadlocked for much of the third period but, with overtime beckoning, Gleb Koryagin’s rush down the flank ended in a low shot that bounced to Sergei Dubakin. That made it 3-2, ending the home team’s skid and giving goalie Janis Kalnins his first win of the season. For Vityaz, it was a second loss on the Far East tour.
Torpedo rediscovers scoring form
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 HC Sochi 1 (1-0, 2-1, 1-0)
This was a welcome return to form for Torpedo’s forwards. After it was limited to just one goal in each of its last four games (plus a shoot-out winner along the way), the home offense got back on track with four goals here. Sochi remains rooted to the foot of the standings as Torpedo snapped a two-game losing run and moved ahead of Vityaz into fifth place in the West.
Torpedo got on top early in the game, and converted that pressure into an eighth-minute goal from Maxim Fedotov. Kirill Voronin doubled the lead in the 26th minute, but almost immediately Sochi responded when Artyom Nikolayev reduced the deficit.
If the Leopards hoped that moment would be a momentum changer, they were disappointed. Barely a minute later, Andrei Altybarmakyan was assessed a slashing penalty and Nikolai Kovalenko scored on the resultant power play to make it 3-1. The visitor offered little threat for the remainder of the middle frame.
Sochi improved in the third period but was unable to make inroads into Torpedo’s lead. Instead, Sergei Goncharuk added a fourth midway through the session. That completed the scoring as Sochi suffered a sixth successive loss.
Severstal fightback falls just short
Severstal Cherepovets 4 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 5 (1-4, 1-1, 0-2)
Salavat Yulaev came perilously close to blowing a 5-1 lead in Cherepovets, but the visitor just about held on to claim the win.
The first half of this game could hardly have gone any better for Viktor Kozlov’s team. Severstal can be tricky opponent for anyone in this league, but two goals in the first 10 minutes seemed to set the tone. Danil Aimurzin, 20, got things rolling with his first KHL goal. The youngster was making his first appearance of the season, and only the fourth of his career. Indeed, prior to today, Aimurzin had not managed a shot on goal in this league.
Aimurzin’s opener was doubled up by a goal from the experienced Grigory Panin. Later in the frame, the pattern repeated itself: youngster Shakir Mukhamadullin made it 3-0, then veteran Alexander Kadeikin added a fourth in the final minute. Severstal somehow found time to pick itself up and pull one back through Kirill Pilipenko, withdrawing goalie Dmitry Shugayev on the power play and making the most of a burst of 6-on-4 play. Even so, after allowing four goals on just seven shots, the Steelmen looked a long way off the pace.
Nothing in the second period really changed that picture. The teams traded goals through Alexander Chmelevski and Pilipenko’s second of the game, but there was little sign of the Ufa defense wobbling. Ilya Ezhov only faced eight shots from the home team, hardly the performance of players fighting their way back into contention.
However, Severstal was removing its goalie on every power play. In the third, Andrei Razin even did this during a spell of four-on-four play, and got a reward when his team returned to full strength. Igor Geraskin pulled it back to 3-5 on 46 minutes, just as an Ufa bench penalty came to an end. Almost immediately, Salavat Yulaev took another minor. This time, it survived with four against six, only to allow David Dumbadze to make it a one-goal game with 10 minutes to play.
That was as close as the home team got. A high-sticking call on Makar Khabarov crushed Severstal’s momentum. Even when Shugayev went to the bench for the last time with 1:17 left on the clock, there was no way to save the game.
Polunin’s double paces Loko win
Dynamo Moscow 2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (1-0, 0-3, 1-1)
Lokomotiv defeated Dynamo for the second time this season, moving level with the Blue-and-Whites on 29 points to share second place in the Western Conference. And the Railwaymen are on an upward trend: this was a fifth straight win for Igor Nikitin’s team, while the Muscovites slipped to a third loss.
Two goals from Alexander Polunin helped Loko overcome an early setback to claim this victory. Dynamo got ahead in the first period, Jordan Weal breaking the deadlock in the eighth minute when he redirected Maxim Sushko’s effort beyond former Dynamo goalie Ivan Bocharov.
However, there was little between the teams in the first period, and in the second Lokomotiv turned it around with two quick goals. Polunin got the equalizer, rifling home after Pavel Kraskovsky won an attacking face-off. Then, a minute later, Stepan Nikulin forced home the rebound after Daniil Misyul’s deflected shot was saved by Ilya Konovalov.
This was the second time in his career that Konovalov had faced Lokomotiv, the club where it all began for the 24-year-old. And it was the second time he came off second best against his former colleagues. Yegor Korshkov added a third midway through middle frame and the game was drifting away from the home team. When Polunin potted his second at the start of the final session, Konovalov’s evening came to an early end.
Dynamo was not quite done. The home team got one back, a short-handed effort from Ivan Muranov in the 44th minute. However, there was no way back for Alexei Kudashov’s team and the head coach suffered defeat at the hands of one of his former clubs.
