Admiral Vladivostok 1 Traktor Chelyabinsk 0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
For the second time in three days, Admiral kept Traktor at bay. Nikita Serebryakov replaced Alexander Lazushin in the Sailors goal and repeated his colleague’s shut-out. At the other end, a solitary goal from Artyom Gareyev was enough to give the home team a fifth consecutive victory.
The first period produced little in the way of scoring chances. The two teams played at a high tempo and laid some big hits, but seldom forced the goalies into meaningful action.
After the intermission, things picked up. There were more chances at both ends and during a home power play, only the post saved Traktor from falling behind.
The opening goal arrived early in the third. Gareyev forced a turnover in center ice, advanced on Ilya Proskuryakov’s net and buried his shot in the top corner. Traktor’s attempts to get back into the game were hindered by penalties at first. Only in the closing stages did we see serious pressure on Serebryakov’s net. However, the home goalie was ready and pulled off some big saves in the final minutes to close out a win.
Vityaz Moscow Region 1 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 4 (0-1, 1-1, 0-2)
Avtomobilist made it three wins from three on its latest road trip, and climbs back to the top of the Eastern Conference as a result. Brooks Macek scored twice to lead his team to this win. The KHL’s leading scorer is now on a six-game goal streak, and has six in his last three appearances.
Today, Macek opened the scoring. Now that Curtis Valk and Stephane Da Costa are fit again, the Motormen no longer have problems with the power play. Vityaz learned that the hard way, going behind after Artyom Borodkin went to the box midway through the first period. Later, the home team had its chances on the power play, but Avtomobilist defended resolutely to preserve its lead until the intermission.
For a long time, the second period was relatively short on incident. Vityaz had a slight edge, but rarely managed to turn that into a genuine goal threat. Then, midway through the session, Avto doubled its lead. Nikita Tryamkin’s blast enabled Danil Romantsev to score from close range.
Up 2-0, the visitor seemed to take its foot off the gas. The game management that established that lead suddenly evaporated and an error on offense saw Vityaz race down the ice with a 4-on-2 counterattack. Neat interplay set up Vitaly Popov, who scored on his former club to bring the game back to life.
In the third period, Avtomobilist was content to defend its lead and allow Vityaz to play with the puck as long as it did not threaten Igor Bobkov’s net. The tactics worked: the home team was unable to unpick a well-drilled defense, then a breakaway saw Vladimir Kuznetsov, a player more noted for size than skill, use his talents to set up Macek’s second of the game. That’s 21 goals this season for the German international. With a two-goal advantage to defend, Avtomobilist had the game wrapped up. Oleg Li underlined the win with an empty net goal late on.
Sibir Novosibirsk 3 SKA St. Petersburg 2 (1-0, 2-2, 0-0)
SKA completed its journey to the East with a third successive loss. Before venturing into Siberia and Russia’s Far East, the league leader had lost just twice in 27 games. Now it has five losses from 30. It’s hardly a crisis for Roman Rotenberg’s team, which still holds a commanding 12-point lead over the rest, but it suggests that a seemingly unstoppable force might not be quite so invincible after all.
However, Rotenberg may be alarmed that his team did not respond to his call for his team to show its resilience after losing in Khabarovsk last time out. The head coach made some changes to his line-up, scratching youngster Matvei Michkov and moving Marat Khusnutdinov from the first line to the third. His place was taken by Vasily Glotov, Barnaul-born and Sibir-bred. Valentin Zykov and Nikita Kamalov also paid the price for the loss at Amur.
SKA got a chance early in the game following a penalty on Nikita Setdikov in the first minute. However, Andrei Martemyanov’s team killed the penalty and even prevented SKA from setting itself up in the home zone. Back at full strength, Sibir began to come into the game more. Chances started to emerge: neat passing play set up Setdikov, but his shot went wide, another effort got past Alexander Samonov only for Daniil Pylenkov to scoop it off the goal line. Michal Cajkovsky’s shot broke the deadlock and sent the home team into the break with a 1-0 lead. It was Cajkovsky’s fourth goal in the last five games.
At the start of the second, though, Sibir’s defense went missing. First, nobody paid much attention to Nikita Gusev, who took advantage of the space he was allowed and tied the game 44 seconds after the restart. Then Cajkovsky managed to ‘cancel out’ his opening goal with an uncharacteristic error that gifted Damir Zhafyarov a go-ahead goal.
The home team needed something to re-energize its game, and Denis Golubev came up with the answer. He picked a fight with Alexei Ozhgikhin, a 24-year-old forward in his first KHL season. The bout ended in a win for Golubev, lifting spirits among his team-mates. Shortly afterwards, Danila Moiseyev escaped a major penalty following a video review, but when Sibir did get on the power play, it duly tied the game. Vladimir Butuzov was the scorer, getting a first power play goal in six games for his team while Glotov sat in the box.
Late in the second period, Sibir regained the lead. Valentin Pyanov’s early-season problems have started to provoke headlines in the Russian sporting media, but in his 31st game of the season he finally got his first goal.
Pyanov’s effort turned out to be the winner. Rotenberg swapped goalies at the intermission, surprisingly giving 18-year-old Sergei Ivanov the remaining 20 minutes. The youngster kept up his side of the bargain, allowing zero goals in the final frame. However, his opposite number Denis Kostin also proved equal to the rather greater challenges that came his way, while his team-mates finished the game with 31 blocked shots to secure a hard-fought win.
Kunlun Red Star 7 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 4 (0-2, 2-2, 5-0)
Brandon Yip set a new club record for the Dragons, and did it in style. His hat-trick against Neftekhimik extended his productive streak to nine games – beating his own previous best in KRS colors – and completed a battling win for his team.
The visitor, bottom of the Eastern Conference, twice led by two goals. However, a big attacking effort from the home team turned the game around and secured a second win of the season over the Wolves.
An early error from Kunlun saw Ansel Galimov give Neftekhimik a fifth-minute lead. Then the Dragons ran into penalty trouble. Anthony Camara scored during a 5-on-3 power play, and Red Star would face a two-man shortfall twice more in the opening frame. The visitor was unable to add to its lead, but looked comfortable at 2-0 after 20 minutes.
At the start of the second, Red Star scored twice in a minute to tie the scores. Yip started the fightback, then Cliff Pu made it 2-2. However, Neftekhimik responded with two more goals of its own to lead 4-2 at the second break.
The home team needed a big start to the third period, and Jack Rodewald provided it when he made the score 3-4. Then Neftekhimik took only its second penalty of the game, and Pu set up Brett Pollock to tie the game once again. Both teams battled for a winner, but Andrei Belozyorov’s high stick ultimately gave Kunlun the edge. The home team needed just 17 seconds to convert that power play, with Yip grabbing what proved to be the winning goal. And Captain China finished the job himself with a shorthanded empty net goal to quell Neftekhimik’s final storm. Ryan Sproul, recently returned form injury, completed the celebrations with a seventh goal in the last seconds.
HC Sochi 3 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 5 (0-1, 1-3, 2-1)
Although Sochi ended its long losing streak with an overtime win against Lokomotiv, the Black Sea team was unable to build on that success. A high-scoring encounter with Torpedo saw the visitor leave with the points, thanks largely to two goals apiece from Sergei Goncharuk and Alexander Daryin.
The first half of this game was straightforward for the visitor. Torpedo has one of the more potent offenses in this league, and it produced three unanswered goals inside 32 minutes. Anton Sizov opened the scoring in the first period, Goncharuk extended the lead on a second-period power play, then Daryin made it 3-0. Igor Larionov Jr had an assist on all three.
Daniil Avershin pulled one back for Sochi but Goncharuk potted another on the PP to open a 4-1 lead going into the third period.
Sochi showed some fight in the third. Dmitry Zavgorodny and Fyodor Kroshchinsky twice reduced the arrears, the latter claiming his first KHL goal In between, though, Daryin got his second of the game to keep Torpedo clear of the Leopards. The win makes it four successes from five games for the visitor, and lifts it above Dynamo Moscow into fourth place in the West.