Avangard thrashes Barys. October 25 round-up
It was a great day for Avangard’s leading forwards, who were involved in five of their team’s six goals in a big win over Barys. Elsewhere, Admiral needed a shoot-out to edge past Severstal, while Sibir left it late to beat Spartak 4-3.
Narrow win for Admiral
Admiral Vladivostok 2 Severstal Cherepovets 1 SO (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)
Tuesday’s first game, in Vladivostok, proved every bit as tight as expected. In recent encounters, both these teams have played out one-goal games. Thus, it was no surprise that there was little between the two here.
In the opening frame, three penalties for Admiral gave Severstal a chance to dictate long passages of play. However, the visitor struggled to turn that advantage into a significant workload for goalie Nikita Serebryakov.
The first goal came midway through the second period when Libor Sulak’s slap shot whistled past Dmitry Shugayev to give the home team the lead. However, the Sailors were unable to build on that and an individual effort from Igor Geraskin tied the game with seven-and-a-half minutes to play. Regulation came to an end with the teams deadlocked; that expected close game clearly materialized.
Overtime also failed to separate the teams, and for the shoot-out Admiral replaced Serebryakov with understudy goalie Alexander Lazushin. The switch paid off: Lazushin was unbeaten, while Sulak and Nikolajs Jelisejevs both scored on Shugayev.
Setdikov snatches late winner for Sibir
Sibir Novosibirsk 4 Spartak Moscow 3 (1-2, 2-0, 1-1)
Sibir got in front early thanks to Nikita Korotkov. He marked his return to the team with a goal on his first shift, using his pace to set up the play before getting to the slot to convert a Vyacheslav Osnovin shot.
That was Korotkov’s first goal of the season. Next came Timur Khairullin’s first point in the KHL as he assisted on Spartak’s equalizer. Andrei Loktionov scored that one, and Phil Varone put the visitor ahead before the first intermission.
Sibir got a chance to hit back late in the first when Joey Keane took unnecessary penalties either side of the intermission. However, his team-mates rescued him. Chances kept coming for the home team, though. Dmitry Ovchinnikov and Evgeny Chesalin both hit the piping, then Alexei Krasikov pulled off a huge save to steal a goal from Vyacheslav Osnovin.
Midway through the frame, the goalie’s luck ran out. Vladimir Butuzov tied it up on the power play, then a short-handed effort gave Korotkov his second of the night. The Spartak bench challenged that goal but ended up taking a minor penalty for delay of game.
The visitor found an equalizer in the third, shrugging off the jetlag from its recent trip to the Far East to level the scores thanks to Varone’s second of evening. However, another shorthanded goal gave Sibir the win when Nikita Setdikov potted the decider in the 58th minute.
Five-star show from Omsk’s top line
Avangard Omsk 6 Barys Astana 0 (1-0, 3-0, 2-0)
Avangard’s strike force had a day to remember, combining for five of the team’s six goals. Corban Knight finished with a hat-trick, while Vladimir Tkachyov and Reid Boucher collected five points apiece as they put Barys to the sword.
The Hawks clearly enjoy playing Barys. Avangard got its first victory of the season against the Kazakhs, winning 5-2 in Astana back in September after dropping its first six games of the season. Today, a morale-boosting 6-0 scoreline gave Mikhail Kravets’ team its biggest win of the campaign to date. The success also moves Omsk into the top eight.
Avangard got off to a great start. Boucher opened the scoring in the third minute, off an assist from Tkachyov. However, there was little evidence of what was to come in a tight first period that saw just 11 shots on target between the two teams.
At the start of the second, though, the Boucher-Tkachyov-Knight combination doubled down to take the game away from Barys. Knight made it 2-0, assisted by his line-mates, then Boucher returned Tkachyov’s first-period favor to make it 3-0 just a couple of minutes later. That was the end of Julius Hudacek’s game, he was replaced by Nikita Boyarkin in the visitor’s net.
Boyarkin held out for 10 minutes before he, too was overcome by Avangard’s first line. Knight scored his second of the game, Tkachyov and Boucher had a hand in all four.
In the third period, Avangard found a goal from a different source when Vladimir Bryukvin added a fifth. But normal service was resumed late on. Knight completed his hat-trick, with his partners again sharing the assists.
